Fall of the Defenders
by OmegusXIII
Summary: After their fight with Lotor, the Paladins and their allies struggle to travel to Earth with so little of what they have left and so much of what they have lost. But their war is far from over: the Galra have fractured, Komar has seized power, and they will soon find that Earth isn't how they left it. Even then, the countdown to Voltron's destruction winds down to its last tick.
1. A Little Adventure

**A/N: Hello. I couldn't wait to get it started, so here it is. :) Also, this is where the Paladins will suffer major changes during their adventures. For example, for those of you who have seen the ending of my last story, Jenny would no longer be the happy, cheerful girl she once was, and she would become distant from everyone she loves. Not only that, but later on in the series, there will be major M-rated stuff that will occur, mostly concerning Jenny and Lotor. But we'll get to that bit later. Also, there's an additional character in here named Amy Patterson. She was the blonde-haired girl who tried the simulator in the past back when Keith was still at a normal school and will be voiced by Daveigh Chase, most famous in my opinion for Chihiro from Spirited Away. Loved it! I'm sure she's gotten much older since then, so I incorporated this factor. Anyway, enjoy. :)**

**Chapter 1: **A Little Adventure

_At a school building, the school's principal, along with Mr. York was introducing to the class, including Keith, who was staring out the window, to Shiro and Belle as they stood in front of the class._

"_I've brought some special guests along with me today. I'm sure you all recognize them. They're the youngest pilots ever to lead a mission into space, Takashi Shirogane and Belle Shaybon!"_

_After the statement was delivered, the class clapped towards the two as they smiled with Shiro speaking first._

"_Thanks for having us."_

"_It's a pleasure to be here."_

_As the class stood (or more accurately sat) in their presence, the students exhibited excitement as they whispered before Mr. York spoke._

"_Wow, it's really Takashi!"_

"_I'm excited!"_

"_Settle down, everyone. Now, as I'm sure you're aware, they've just broken the record for the fastest orbital velocity, bearing the old heliocentric speed by about 50 kilometers per second."_

_As the class applauded towards the two, Shiro spoke out to the crowd as Keith maintained his gaze to the horizon._

"_The Galaxy Garrison sent us to schools in the area to help find the next generation of astroexplorers. Who's ready to find out if they've got what it takes?"_

_At that moment, the entire class raised their hands up in excitement and their shouts of volunteer overlapped before Belle and Shiro smiled as the former spoke._

"_Oh, I know! I could do it! Me!"_

"_Okay, guys. Settle down. In order to do that, we're going to give you a test."_

_As expected, it made the crowd shrink and moan as they expected it to be a written test._

"_Aw, man."_

"_A test?"_

"_Not a test."_

_Belle then spoke up to lighten the mood._

"_Except... this test isn't like the ones you take all the time. Because you're going to take it by playing a video game."_

_Hearing this, the students' voices began overlapping in excitement as they smiled before looking to Keith, seeing him watching out the window. As they noticed him, however, Shiro saw how distant he was and wondered why he looked so sad._

* * *

_Outside, Shiro was speaking to the children about the "test."_

"_Introducing the Orbit Axiom X, the Galaxy Garrison's most advanced flight simulator. Cadets not much older than you use simulators just like this to train to become the next generation of space explorers. Let's see what you got."_

_At the front of the crowd, a young man with brown hair, parts of it in front of his face, and blue eyes opened his eyes and gasped in anticipation._

"_Wow!"_

_First up on the simulator was a young boy with blonde hair as he made it past the first level as the boy with brown hair gave his support._

"_Cool! You made it through the first check point!"_

_At the second level, though, he failed to get past the meteor and crashed into it before the same boy who supported him felt bad for him._

"_Oh, man!"_

_Up next, a young man tried it, but with no better success than the first. With that, one after another, the mark of failure popped up with each meteorite they crashed into. For example, a girl with blonde hair got upset that she didn't make it as the brown-haired boy blushed while Shiro and Belle gave smiles to her. Up next, a boy was shouting in frustration as the blonde girl, the brown-haired boy, Shiro, and Belle tried to stop him from breaking it. Finally, the brown-haired boy proved to fare no better than the others. Later on, Shiro gave out the statistics for the game._

"_We've had some great tries, but nobody's made it past the third level yet. Looks like you're the only one who's left. Think you got what it takes?"_

_As Shiro said this to Keith, he became surprised as he looked up to him before a young girl spoke up from in the crowd._

"_Wait. I didn't go yet, either."_

_Upon looking to her, Shiro saw a girl with short raven hair and glasses on her face with the same eyes as Keith but wore a green jacket with a grey hood before he spoke._

"_Oh. I see. And who are you?"_

"_My name's Sandra Kogane. But you can call me Sandy."_

_As Sandra shook hands with Shiro, he inquired of her about the test._

"_So, you wanna go ahead?"_

"_Oh, no. I'd probably flunk it like the others."_

_With that, she looked to Keith before she spoke, knowing he stood a better chance._

"_But I know Keith would like to try it."_

_What initially resulted in a brief refusal afterwards eventually got Keith to try out the simulator as he got the joystick out and dodged the incoming meteorites as quickly as he could. This, apparently got the kid's' attention as one of them spoke as the others gasped in awe._

"_That emo kid's doing it!"_

_As Keith managed to get by the meteorites with a hard pull on the stick to his right, he swerved away from the meteorites and completed what was apparently level five as Sandra smiled at Keith before the boy popped up next to Keith._

"_No way! Keith made it past level five? Thing's gotta be broken."_

_As this went down, Belle looked to Sandra before she spoke._

"_You sure you don't want to try it?"_

"_Yeah. I'm good. I really don't need to do this."_

"_Aw, come on, Sandy. What's one try gonna do?"_

_As Belle said this to Sandra, the crowd looked to her before she gulped, feeling an intense amount of pressure on her._

"_Well... I'll try my best."_

_As Sandra tried the simulator, the principal spoke with Shiro and Mr. York about the candidates._

"_I've compiled a list of students who I think would make the best candidates for the Garrison."_

_As Shiro looked at the simulator, he watched as Sandra tried to swerve the meteors in a panicked way at first, but as she flew through them, she got used to it as she smiled to Belle._

"_Hey... this isn't so bad."_

"_See? What did I tell you?"_

_Seeing their progress, Shiro pointed to Sandra and Keith._

"_Are these two on there? Looks like they're just about ready to fly the real thing."_

"_Well, I can understand Sandra in spite of her shyness, but Keith? He's a bit of a discipline case. I don't think he'd necessarily fit in with the rigid Garrison culture."_

_Unbeknownst to the three of them, Keith was listening to every word they said as Mr. York spoke to her._

"_Then you obviously don't know what we do outside of piloting. I'm more than sure that Mr. Kogane will come around, given time."_

"_I understand your view, Mr. York, but I wouldn't recommend him, nonetheless."_

_As he heard this, Keith gritted his teeth before the principal introduced two students to Shiro and Mr. York as she introduced them, one of them being the brown-haired boy who supported the others who tried while the other was one who tried it herself but failed._

"_This is James Griffin and Amy Patterson. He has the highest grades in school and she demonstrates proper judgment calls in any situation."_

_With that, Amy spoke up before James as they held their hands._

"_Hi. How are you doing?"_

"_It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Shirogane."_

_At that moment, just as the simulator whined before showing failure, with Sandra having been unable to clear the ninth level, she looked around for her brother as she spoke._

"_Wow. I didn't think I would get that far. What about you, Keith? Keith?"_

_To answer her, the Garrison vehicle's engine began roaring as it took off, leaving a trail of dust as Shiro, Belle, Sandra, Mr. York, James, Amy, and the principal looked on as she spoke to Shiro, Belle, and Mr. York._

"_Is that your car?"_

_At that moment, Mr. York, surprised as he was, looked to her before he spoke casually._

"_Like I said. He'll come around, given time. I never said how much time we would need."_

* * *

_As he noticed this, Shiro turned to Belle and spoke._

"_Belle, you can take it from here. I have something I need to do."_

_Later, Keith was just being picked up from the Juvenile Detention Center by Shiro as he exhibited confusion from his decision as he got inside the car._

"_I don't get it. I steal your car, and you respond by helping me out?"_

"_Yeah, so you owe me one."_

_With that, Shiro handed a card to Keith as he spoke further._

"_Be at this address tomorrow at 0800 hours. You're getting a second chance."_

_With that, Shiro drive off away from Keith as he watched._

* * *

At the planet they stopped at to recover after their fight with Lotor, the Paladins, Xarnas, Rogue Thrust, Krolia, Allura, Babak, Coran, Romelle, Sapphire, Cilia, Sandra, Belle, and Xanthia stood over Shiro's Capsule inside the Black Lion. Shortly after Shiro got in Kuron's body, he was being given the rest he needed, but heaven knows what could happen as Hunk spoke up to Allura.

"Is... is he gonna be okay?"

"Only time will tell if this body will accept Shiro's consciousness."

Seeing him in this state was enough reason for Ayame to worry, but not knowing whether or not the body will reject him was too daunting for her to take as she spoke worriedly.

"Takashi..."

As Ayame placed her hand on his Capsule, Lance spoke to Pidge and Lapis before they ran their calculations.

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

"I've tried contacting the Voltron Coalition, but I can't get through to anyone."

"I'm having the same luck with the Blade of Marmora, too. It doesn't make any sense. Maybe there's some distortion we're not picking up on."

"Maybe we need to get into the upper atmosphere for a better signal?"

Regardless, Hunk knew it wouldn't make any difference as long as they were stuck.

"The lions aren't going anywhere without recharging their power cores."

Allura knew the reason why as she spoke while Jenny looked with a glance of slight hate towards Lotor, knowing what he forced Alphus to do.

"The battle with Lotor severely depleted them. If we had the Castle of Lions, we could recharge them, but..."

"But it's gone. And... and her, too."

Hearing this, Lance turned to her and spoke, trying help her any way he could.

"You okay, Jenny?"

Hearing his voice, Jenny snapped out of it as she wiped her tears before she responded and feigned her smile.

"Yeah. I'll be okay. Don't worry."

As Lance turned around and felt otherwise, Pidge spoke to Babak on that topic.

"Okay."

"Is there any other way to recharge them?"

"They can recharge naturally given enough time and ambient energy, but that would take phoebs."

Not willing to accept this, Keith and Ayame spoke out to Coran about another solution.

"There's gotta be something we can do."

"We can't just sit here doing nothing."

"We are on the Dalterian Belt, Home to the element faunatonium. We may be able to use it as a temporary solution."

This made Adea and Luzria confused as they spoke.

"Faunatonium?"

"How will that charge the power cores?"

"Well, you see, it involves gluon field fluctuations—"

Not understanding how any of it worked, Adea dismissed Coran from speaking about it.

"You know what? Never mind. I'm guessing it has something to do with magic, right? Right."

"Not far off. We're going to use the element to expand the energy particles within the cores. But first, we need a Yalmor."

Hearing about them, Hunk began speaking to Coran.

"Wait, wait, wait, there are Yalmors on this planet?"

"How do you think we find the faunatonium? Those Yalmors have a nose for the stuff."

Knowing that they've found the solution, Keith spoke to the others about what to do.

"Okay. You guys find a Yalmor and get this faunatonium stuff. I'll stay with Shiro."

As Keith said this, Ayame knelt down by him as she spoke.

"Me, too. He's my brother. If I lost one more of the people I cared about, I'd... I don't know what I would do."

Belle then joined in before Krolia and Allura as she and the Altean spoke.

"Same here. Shiro means more to me than anything in this universe. Well, almost anything, but you get the idea."

"I'll stay as well. I may have exhausted the limits of what I learned on Oriande, but I might still be able to help in some way."

With that, Jenny spoke up timidly, not sure what to do about the situation.

"Well, you can count me out. Even with my alchemy, I'll just be in the way. I hope Shiro can come back from this..."

As Jenny said this sadly, she began to walk out as Lance looked at her with concern as he spoke to Keith.

"And I'll see what I can do to cheer her up in the meantime while we look for this faunatonium."

With that, Coran spoke up, knowing the order was decided.

"Alright, then. We'll get started."

As the group walked out, Romelle became confused about the situation and voiced her thoughts.

"Wait, you just fought Lotor, defeated him, dropped an explosion that could have destroyed reality, took your friend's consciousness from the Black Lion of Voltron, and put it inside his clone, and now we're simply moving on?"

Hunk knew better than anyone how she felt as he spoke to her.

"Trust me, I'm always saying the exact same thing, but these guys like to move on."

Hearing those last two words, it was clearly the last thing Jenny wanted to do as she barked at him.

"Shut it, Hunk! Can't we just go already?!"

As she walked out, Hunk could tell she was very, very upset with what happened as he spoke.

"At least, one of them used to."

As the group walked out, Allura could tell that Ayame, Belle, and Keith were concerned about Shiro as she spoke before the Black Paladin replied.

"He's going to be okay."

"I hope so. You can't imagine all he's done for me."

* * *

_At the Garrison, Shiro was giving Keith a tour at the Air Force base as he looked at the Jet in front of him before Shiro spoke._

"_That's the Calypso, the first ship to carry astronauts to the moons of Jupiter."_

_Keith knew about its history already and showed it as he spoke._

"_It took them three years to get there. Longest voyage of its kind."_

"_That's right. Reading about that mission was what made me wanna be a pilot. Those astronauts braved the unknown. People can accomplish incredible things if they're willing to put on the time and effort. I wanna help you, Keith. I think you've got a lot of potential. But what you decide to do with that potential is up to you."_

_Later on, Ayame was moving boxes into her dorm with Kumiko as they grunted before setting the box on top of the bed before Ayame spoke._

"_Okay, that's almost all of them. Let's see if I can't get one on my own."_

"_Are you sure you can handle it alone?"_

"_It's just one more box, Kumi. I think I can manage that much."_

_As Ayame picked up the box, however, she was showing to have incredible difficulty holding it together as it proved heavier than she thought as she stumbled for a moment before it started to fall, only for Keith to rush in time to help her out as he steadied it._

"_Easy. I gotcha."_

"_Oh, thank goodness. That was too close."_

_With that, the two of them got into her dorm before setting the last box on the floor by the bed as Ayame sighed._

"_Thanks for the help. What's your name?"_

"_I'm Keith. And you?"_

"_I'm Ayame. It's nice to meet you."_

"_Same for you."_

_With that, after a brief silence, Keith spoke up to her as he walked out._

"_Well, I better get going. See you around."_

"_See you later."_

_As Keith walked out of the dorm, Ayame looked to Kumiko, who showed a smile on her face as she spoke._

"_What is it?"_

"_Looks like you're crushing on someone already."_

_Ignoring Kumiko's singsong tone, Ayame only gave her own smile as she spoke._

"_Don't read too much into it. He just helped out with the boxes. That's all."_

"_Yeah, sure."_

* * *

In the present, the group that went out to search for the faunatonium were taking in the views of the forest while Jenny ignored it and kept her emo gaze on, making Lance worried as he spoke, earning her unenthusiastic answer.

"You okay, Jenny?"

"Yeah. Just fine."

Before Lance could reply back, confused by the tone of her voice, Coran suddenly sneezed before wiping his nose after sniffing the flowers prior to the sneeze.

"This looks like a Yalmor patch."

At that moment, Coran licked at the flower he sneezed on before he slurped and walked away before he spoke.

"Yep. Yalmors definitely sprayed here."

Immediately, this earned a groan of disgust from the group as Xarnas and Babak spoke up.

"Well, that was unsanitary."

"Get used to it. It happens all the time with him."

Coran, ignoring their words, put his hand by his mouth and made a yell in the forest to locate the Yalmors they're searching for as Jenny grew irritated while covering her ears. Fortunately, she didn't have to endure that any longer as they heard a faint grunting from far away before going to the source of it, finding an anteater-like alien walking on the ground. As they caught up to it, Coran knew what it was.

"There's a Yalmor!"

Seeing it up close, Lance, Jenny, and Pidge voiced their opinions on it.

"Wow. They're a lot uglier than I thought they'd be."

"As ugly as anteaters can get, I guess."

"I think it's kinda cute, you know, in a creepy, hideous sort of way. Like you, Lance."

Hearing Pidge say this, Jenny gave a scoff at Pidge's comment, stupefying Lance as she showed that she didn't care what she thought. Usually, well, there's not much difference there, but the tone she used signified it all.

"Whatever."

Despite this, Coran shushed the group before he spoke in whispers before it showed him towering over a Yalmor as he snorted steam out of his nostrils.

"Shh! Yalmors are extremely aggressive. Any sign of weakness and they attack. You've gotta corner it, and make it think that you're the bigger, meaner Yalmor."

To demonstrate this, Coran tiptoed near a Yalmor as he spoke.

"Alfor and I used the Squelzian Technique to wrangle us up some Yalmors."

As Coran did this, Romelle became confused as she spoke to Pidge.

"Are all ancient Alteans like this?"

"Well, we only know four. Of course, it's three now, but—"

Before Pidge could finish, she noticed Jenny next to her and saw how dismal she was making her, and refrained from making it worse.

"Never mind."

Despite this, Cilia and Sapphire enjoyed his silliness as the former spoke while the latter giggled quietly.

"Well, I think Coran's funny. I like that about him. And I know Sapphire does, too. Sometimes, I wonder if he does this on purpose."

As Coran squealed at the Yalmor and moved his hands back and forth in a clawing fashion, it retaliated with a whip from his trunk at his head, just missing him. Now that the Squelzian Technique had failed Coran, he leaped into Cilia's arms so suddenly, she staggered back, inadvertently knocking Lance into the thorn, poking him in the butt before he screamed and hopped while holding his wound before falling to the ground in front of another creature as he screamed again before seeing it in front of him.

"Oh, hi, there, little fella."

What Lance didn't know was that in the creature's eyes it saw a grotesque blur of him, and instead of words, it heard shrieks before it squealed and puffed out rainbow-colored smoke in self-defense, making him, Jenny, and the rest of the group cover their eyes. However, when the smoke cleared, everything looked bigger than they were as they were surrounded by grass the size of towers before Romelle spoke her inquiry and Pidge and Babak answered it.

"What the quizacker just happened?"

"Um, it's pronounced 'quiznak', and I have no idea."

"Everything looks bigger than we are. I think we can safely that we've shrunk."

However, there was another question to worry about as Hunk heard thumping from far away.

"Uh, what's that sound? Lance, what did you do?"

Knowing his role in their situation, Babak spoke callously to him.

"Yes, Lance. What _did _you do?"

"Nothing! I just bumped into the—"

Before Lance could finish, Coran and Cilia spoke up.

"What's that?"

"I don't know. But it looks like—"

Before she could finish, the now gargantuan Yalmor leered down at them as it blinked before it prepped its trunk for whipping, or in this case thwacking, as Coran spoke.

"Oh, no! It's the Yalmor!"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Black Lion, Allura was giving Keith, Ayame, Belle, and Krolia an update on Shiro's health as the blue wolf lied by the Capsule.

"His levels are getting dangerously low."

As they heard this, Ayame became saddened as she and Keith spoke while Belle held her hand on Ayame's shoulder.

"No... we can't lose him again. We just can't."

"Fight. We won't give up on you."

* * *

_At the Garrison, Belle was speaking to eight pilots recruited by the Garrison (Keith, Ayame, Kumiko, Lance, James, Amy, Hunk, and the same boy who flipped out on the simulator before) as they flew in the simulations._

"_Bank right and maintain heading at 0,27 degrees. Increase throttle by 35 percent and bank left."_

_As this happened, Keith yawned at the normal routine of this as Shiro spoke next._

"_Increase elevation, 15 degrees."_

_As this happened, Hunk began to have an upset stomach as he spoke._

"_I'm getting dizzy. I knew I shouldn't have eaten so much. Oh, make it stop."_

_As one of the planes wilted to the left, another began boosting up, knocking another a little off the course before he growled before Commander Iverson spoke._

"_Fall in line, cadet."_

"_Sorry, just testing my controls. Stick's loose."_

_At that moment, Lance and James spoke out as the group looked to him._

"_Keep this up, and you'll be stuck as a cargo pilot."_

"_Yeah, Keith, you're gonna get us in trouble."_

_With that, Belle spoke up next._

"_Decrease elevation by 22 degrees."_

_Having had enough of people telling him off, Keith actually pushed the controls further down than he should, causing the craft to go down swiftly as they all spoke his name, some out of concern being Ayame and Kumiko, and the rest out of frustration as they knew what would come next._

"_Keith!"_

_As the plane took off, Iverson thought he knew who Keith was as he spoke._

"_Looks like we've got a showoff."_

_As Iverson walked away, Shiro and Belle looked at the simulation as well as the look on Keith's face as the former had a look of worry._

* * *

_Not long after, the cadets were now standing in single file as Iverson chewed them out._

"_Hope you all like it in the simulator. You can thank Pilot Fancypants over there for the privilege of spending the next three weekends in here running _drills!_"_

_As Iverson walked away, the boy who flipped out on the simulator had a bitter look on his face before he heard James speaking to Keith._

"_Thanks a lot."_

"_My pleasure."_

"_We all know the only reason you're here is because of Shiro."_

_Unbeknownst to them, not only did that earn Hunk's concern as he gritted his teeth and showed a panicked look on his face as Ayame showed a curious look while the boy became interested as Keith spoke out to him._

"_I can outfly anyone in this building."_

"_Oh, yeah? Is that what Mommy and Daddy told you before—?"_

_Before James could finish, Keith retaliated with a lunch on his face, shocking Ayame and Kumiko, as well as the other students before he aimed to mercilessly pummel him, only to be stopped by Iverson who pulled him away._

"_Hey! Hey, break it up!"_

_As he dragged Keith back, Ayame looked at him with concern as James wiped the blood from the resulting punch as the boy looked on in a sinister smile._

* * *

_Later, Keith was shown to be sitting out on a chair, bruised and battered along with a teenager in the same condition adjacent to him returning a glare as a teacher spoke of his misconducts to Shiro._

"_The only reason this kid is here is because you vouched for him. You need to make sure this doesn't happen again."_

"_Understood. I'll handle it."_

_With that, Shiro walked out before the other kid went in as he spoke to Keith, who was beginning to have no faith in himself._

"_Hey."_

"_Look, I know I messed up. You should send me ack to the home already. This place isn't for me."_

"_Keith, you can do this. I will never give up on you. But more importantly, you can't give up on yourself."_

_This made Keith look up at him in wonder, as if his words entered his heart and touched it. All the same, Keith didn't feel he was worth it as he spoke._

"_You don't even know me."_

"_You're right. I don't. But sometimes, we all need a hand."_

_With that, Shiro extended his hand out to Keith, who then took it, accepting the help he's willing to give him._

* * *

_Later after that, James was sentenced to a degradation as a consequence of picking fights, especially to someone who'd lost his parents. The position of pilot would've been his, but instead, Kumiko Nakamura has that position as a result of his actions. However, his grades should be granted him this position instead of her, or at least, he felt that way._

"_I can't believe it! That showoff doesn't even deserve to be here! He's only here because of Shiro! He doesn't belong in here, and he never will!"_

_Hearing James vent his frustrations, the boy immediately took interest in him as he stopped and spoke to him._

"_I'm glad we agree on something."_

_Upon hearing his voice, James turned to see the boy who had flipped out on the simulator at school before as he recognized him._

"_Huh? Zach? What do you want?"_

"_It's not about what I want. I'm just here to talk about you, what _you_ want."_

"_I don't have time to talk with you."_

_As James tried to shut the door and Zach, he stopped him by holding the door as he spoke._

"_I want him out, too, James. That's why I'm here. We can't have some orphan from who-knows-where show us up. That just— Ugh. It doesn't seem right to me."_

"_I don't want to get rid of him, as much as he deserves it. I just... I just wanted that position so badly. I'd worked so hard to get it in the Garrison. But what did all that matter? All that work for nothing."_

_Knowing he's got his hooks into him, Zach smiled before he spoke._

"_You know, there is a way to get your position back."_

"_Huh? Really? How?"_

"_It's really simple. All you have to do is to remove the person who holds that title from the equation."_

"_You mean... to run her out of the Garrison?"_

_As an answer to his question, James gave a sinister look his way before he spoke._

"_Sure. Whatever works for you."_

* * *

Meanwhile, at the planet, the group was running away from the giant Yalmor as Romelle spoke to Hunk.

"Adventures are not fun!"

"Thank you! That's what I'm always saying!"

And as if the Yalmor wasn't enough, the few drops that were on the grass was flicked away, acting like water bombs that set off on impact to scatter itself on the ground as the group panicked while the Yalmor used its trunk to mow the grass, causing the blades to fall on the ground near them as Coran shouted.

"Watch out for that grass!"

As they ran, Lance spoke to Jenny about the event.

"We're not running fast enough!"

"Forget that! Just run at an angle!"

"How can I run at a—?"

To answer his question, Jenny grunted as she ran left before Lance spoke.

"Oh."

As they evaded the blades, they were confronted with another obstacle: a dead end. As such, Adea squeaked in fear before she spoke.

"We're trapped!"

As the Yalmor got close to them, Lance took notice of a pine cone up on the tree before getting out his bayard and converting it into a rifle before shooting it down and knocking the pine cone onto its head, making the Yalmor get a bump on the head before it went away as it splashed on the water, creating tides of it that went towards them as Adea began to shout.

"Son of a—!"

Before she could finish, the water swept over them.

About a moment after, the group was revealed to have survived the tides as most of them groaned while Romelle looked around, amazed that she survived before she noticed Sapphire swimming in the water droplet that remained before Cilia pulled her out and caused the droplet to give way before Lapis sighed as she spoke.

"Okay. That was a disaster."

With that, Pidge attempted to speak to Keith with her gauntlet's communicator.

"Keith, do you copy? Ayame? Belle? Allura? Krolia? Anyone?"

Unfortunately, she received no answer before she stood up and relayed it to the Paladins.

"The miniaturization must've caused our communicators' range to drop exponentially. Nothing's getting through."

Hearing of this, Coran became a bit frightened as he spoke.

"We're so small. It'll take us forever to get back to the rest of the crew."

As Romelle began to panic, so did Adea as they spoke.

"What are we going to do?"

"We can't be this small forever! How will I get to fly the Violet Lion?!"

As they were presented with such an odd difficulty, Lance looked to Jenny before he spoke.

"Well, at least we know how an ant feels."

"Yeah. I guess..."

As Jenny walked back to the group, Lance showed a look of concern before he spoke to her, making her stop in her tracks for a moment before she reiterated her answer.

"Jenny. What happened to you?"

"Nothing. I told you I'm fine. Just drop it, okay?"

"I can't just drop it, Jenny. Remember what you told me back on Arus? You told me that you were faking being happy most of the time. I know you don't want us to feel sorry for you, but it's okay. You can tell me what's wrong."

"That's just it. Nothing's wrong, Lance. I'm just peachy."

With that, Jenny continued her walk back to the group as Lance sighed to himself.

"What's it going to take to get you to smile for real again?"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the ship, Ayame was looking at Shiro with concern as well as Keith as they remembered different flashbacks.

_One day, Shiro and Keith were riding out on hover vehicles as the former chuckled._

"_Come on, catch up!"_

_As per Shiro's advice, Keith did so with a smirk as he revved on the engine, zipping past the rocks. However, Shiro was still very much ahead of him before he sped up with the two of them racing on canyons before Shiro sped up over the edge of the cliff, much to Keith's surprise as he only stopped just before falling. However, Shiro wasn't out yet as he sped up just before hitting the ground as he looked on in surprise._

"_Whoa...!"_

_Later, Shiro watched as the sunset settled in before Keith caught up and spoke his surprise as he chuckled._

"_Whoo! All right. You won this round, but I'll get you in the next race, old timer."_

"_I don't doubt it."_

"_How'd you do that dive, anyway?"_

"_You liked that one, huh? It's all about timing. You pull up too soon, you won't have the momentum needed to create lift. You pull up too late, and there won't be enough lift to avoid the crash."_

_Becoming interested in trying out such a risky maneuver, Keith inquired to Shiro about something._

"_You think I'm ready to try that?"_

"_What do you think?"_

_Hearing this, Keith decided to give it some thought before he spoke._

"_Maybe I should be patient and keep focusing on the basics first."_

"_You're learning. So you grew up out here?"_

"_Yep. Just me and my pop."_

_Hearing about what happened to his father, Shiro tried to give his condolences as sincerely as he could._

"_He was, uh... he was a fireman, right?"_

"_Yeah. He was a real hero. Hmm. Everyone told him not to run back into that building, but you couldn't tell him anything."_

"_Sounds like someone I know."_

_As Keith smiled, Shiro felt a faint beep coming on and felt a pressure on him as he grunted before Keith spoke._

"_What are those?"_

"_Oh... those are just some electro-stimulators to keep my muscles loose."_

"_What's wrong with your muscles?"_

"_Ah, nothing. This is just what happens wen you get to be an 'old-timer.' Come on. We should get back to the base."_

* * *

_Later, that same night, at the Garrison, Ayame walked into the bathroom to see an utterly frightening sight: the lifeless body of Kumiko Nakamura lying on the bed with pills spilt onto the floor next to her before she covered her mouth with a frightened gasp and shouted for help as she held Kumiko in her arms._

"_Help! Someone please get help!"_

_Later, the next day, Ayame was at the doctors office and received the worst news she could possibly have heard: Kumiko was already dead. Upon hearing such a destructive report, Ayame didn't want to believe this news and wanted to hear from her._

"_No. I don't believe you."_

"_Ma'am..."_

"_Kumi can't be dead! She can't be!"_

"_Ma'am, please calm down."_

"_Let me see her!"_

_Immediately, Shiro and Keith held her back as she cried out while her brother spoke._

"_Ayame, stop! She's too far gone already!"_

"_You're wrong! You've got to be wrong! She's got to be alive! We can still save her!"_

"_Look at me, Ayame! She's gone."_

_Hearing this, Ayame began to shed tears and sobbed her heart out on her brother as he tried to comfort her with a hug._

"_I'm so sorry."_

_As Ayame wept, the group didn't notice James looking on at the scene, feeling upset about his role in what she did to herself._

* * *

Meanwhile, the group that went in search for the faunatonium huddled under a mushroom before a creature passed them as Jenny sat by herself in the rock before Romelle spoke up to Hunk.

"What if we're this 'quizacking' small forever?"

"It's 'quiznacking,' and yes, thank you, Romelle. What if?"

As Hunk popped his boot open and let all the water out Lance looked at Jenny, seeing her all alone by the rock next to the mushroom as she shed her tears and wiped them away. As much as he wanted to help, she would just ask him to go away as she did countless times. She hasn't been this dismal since Belle went missing. And he knew of one solution that would work, but home is too far away to enact that plan. With that, Lance is caught in a bind as Pidge spoke to Coran.

"Coran, you said the faunatonium works on gluon field fluctuations, right?"

"Correct. It expands atomic distance."

"Well, maybe it'll work to make us bigger."

Hearing this, Lance turned his attention to the group before Coran spoke.

"You might be on to something."

"But how are we gonna get the faunatonium?"

"With a Yalmor. We'll lure one back here."

Romelle already didn't like his plan one bit before Hunk spoke up in surprise.

"Lure a Yalmor? To us? Like _this_?"

"I mean, it's like, I think it and you say it."

"It will be incredibly dangerous, and Hunk's our only hope."

Getting his attention, Hunk blinked his eyes.

* * *

_At the Garrison, Admiral Sanda spoke with Belle and Sam about a topic of importance._

"_No, absolutely not!"_

"_But why?"_

"_He's cleared all his physicals."_

"_I don't care what the doctor says. This man is sick and he shouldn't be sent in another mission, especially as far away as Kerberos. I have to report this to flight command."_

_As Shiro tensed at this, Sam spoke up in favor of him further, surprising him._

"_Shiro is among the best pilots in the Garrison by far. He's saved my bacon in deep space more times than I can count. If he didn't go in this mission, neither do I."_

_Little did any of them know that Keith was listening by the door about the situation as he showed a look of worry on his face._

* * *

_Meanwhile, Ayame was walking through the halls with an angry look on her face, catching the nearby students' attention as she got a certain someone in her sights: James Griffin. Upon noticing her, he was getting nervous as he spoke._

"_Uh, hey. W-What's going on?"_

"_Are you really that dense? Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"_

"_Find out what?"_

"_You know the answer. What did you do to Kumiko?"_

_Hearing her_ _name, James was frozen like a deer in headlights. He was caught._

"_You framed her for things she didn't do."_

_As she said this, she pushed James backwards before speaking her next sentence, the force of the push becoming stronger as her anger boiled up._

"_You covered her in the dirt."_

_As Ayame got James staggering back, she began to show little to no hesitation in pushing him down._

"_You humiliated her in front of the whole Garrison!"_

_With that one final push, Ayame forced James to fall to the ground as the students clamored in surprise as Ayame stared daggers at James before she spoke with venom._

"_You killed someone. And you didn't even flinch."_

_With that, leaving her words hung in the air, Ayame walked over James, who looked back at her before looking at all of the students who watched before they all glared at him back before turning to see Zach with a sinister smile on his face before he casually walked away, leaving tears on his face as he realized now, how badly he hurt the Garrison with his actions._

* * *

_At the same moment, Shiro and Belle went in the commander's room and passed a man with brown hair and glasses as he spoke to them._

"_Everything okay?"_

_As he set the bag down, Shiro explained to the boy the situation._

"_Iverson thinks I shouldn't go on the mission. Called up the big guns. Admiral Sanda showed up and tried to convince Sam to remove me from the crew."_

_Hearing this, the boy thought they were doing their best to keep him alive._

"_Well, maybe he's right. Maybe you shouldn't go on that mission. You'll only be putting yourself at risk."_

_Hearing this, Belle became outraged at his opinion._

"_So what, Adam? Shiro's taken bigger risks than this, and he's still fine._

"_Belle's right. You know how important this is to me. It's worth the risk."_

_Adam didn't believe this as he clinked his cup of coffee on the coaster swiftly._

"_Takashi, how important am _I _to you? Every mission, every drill, I've been right there with you. But this is more than a mission. This is your life at stake."_

"_Don't start that again, Adam. You don't need to protect me. This is something I need to do for myself."_

"_There's nothing left for you to prove. You've broken every record there is to break."_

_Hearing that from Adam, Belle went over to Shiro before sitting by him as she spoke._

"_You honestly think that's what this is all about? You know the condition he has. For all we know, he could die this very minute. He wasn't breaking those records because he wanted to; he did all that because he _needed _to. To prove that one disease can never define him as just another patient zero! Or did you forget?"_

_As Belle said this, Adam looked to them before he spoke._

"_Trust me, I haven't. But I just want to keep him alive as long as I can, to be with him longer."_

"_And I don't blame you. None of us do. But... Shiro needs this. You've supported him before. What's one more time gonna hurt?"_

_Adam only gave a deep sigh before he spoke to Belle and Shiro before the former tried to change his mind._

"_I know I can't stop you two. But I won't go through this again."_

"_Adam—"_

"_So, if you decide to go... don't expect me to be here when you get back. I've got a class to teach."_

_With that, Adam took his bag and walked out, leaving only Shiro and Belle in the room as she looked on while he looked to the floor._

* * *

At the Black Lion, Keith, Ayame, Belle, Krolia, and Allura still kept their vigil over Shiro before the White Paladin spoke to Belle.

"Shiro wasn't the first person I lost, you know."

"Kumiko Nakamura. I know. And I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It wasn't your fault. Besides, it's not me you should worry about."

"I know about that, too. Ever since what's happened, Jenny's hated Lotor with a vengeance. Who knows what she could do if he ever wakes up?"

"It's not just that. She's getting distant, closing herself off from her friends, snapping at them any time she could. If she keeps that up, she... she'd be doing the same things I did."

As Ayame teared up at this memory of how closed off she made herself before Shiro was believed to be dead, Keith felt bad for her as she sobbed before looking to Shiro.

* * *

Meanwhile, as the group held onto a rope, Romelle was stating her disbelief in this situation as they hovered Hunk over a tree.

"I can't believe we're doing this."

"Oh, you can't believe it? I am literal bait! How could I let this happen?!"

As an answer, Coran spoke to Hunk.

"I told you, Hunk. You're the biggest meal and you scream the loudest."

"I don't care that I—"

Before Hunk could finish his protest, the Yalmor roared before Hunk stopped himself.

"Okay!"

As a result of Hunk's shouts, the Yalmor was attracted to him before Coran spoke again.

"Now keep up that panicked yelling. That's what we need to attract the Yalmor."

"Seriously, guys—!"

Just then, the Yalmor was directly in front of Hunk, making him panic as e wriggled about.

"Oh! Oh! Oh, no! Oh, no!"

With that, the Yalmor prepared to chow down, only for the group to run on the tree bark as Pidge spoke.

"Now!"

At that moment, Hunk was pulled up quickly while the group that pulled landed on the Yalmor's back before Romelle spoke.

"We've made it much further than seems possible!"

At that moment, Hunk screamed as he fell from the rope and landed on the Yalmor's head, showing Hunk dizzy-eyed as he groaned before Romelle spoke as Sandra helped him up.

"This is going well."

"You okay, Hunk?"

As an answer, the Yalmor began to take off as they clung onto its hairs while they shouted.

* * *

At the Black Lion, Keith watched over Shiro as Ayame knelt against Belle as they did the same before Keith whispered to Shiro.

"Shiro... I couldn't just tell her. She already lost one person she cared about. If I told her what's going on with you, I'd end up making her worse off than before. I didn't want that. Ever..."

_Outside, Shiro was brushing the sweat off of him before Keith caught up to him as he spoke._

"_When were you gonna tell me?"_

"_Oh. Hey, Keith."_

"_So what is it? Are you sick or something?"_

"_I-I'm not sure I follow—"_

"_I was outside your office. I overheard you, Belle, and Commander Holt talking with Admiral Sanda. Tel me the truth. Tell me what's wrong. I'm by a little kid. I can handle it."_

_For a moment there was silence until Shiro sighed before he explained._

"_I... have a disease... and it's getting worse. I'll only be able to maintain my peak condition for a couple more years. After that... The Garrison doesn't want me out there. Neither does Adam."_

"_So, what are you gonna do?"_

"_I'm going on the mission."_

* * *

Meanwhile, the group on the search for faunatonium ended up piggybacking the Yalmor as Hunk spoke before Romelle and Sandra.

"This is worse than being bait!"

"Yes! At least then, _you _were the only one in danger!"

"Knock it off, Romelle!"

Suddenly, the Yalmor stopped as they all jolted to the front before a total stop as it began digging in the ground. After that, liquid matter began levitating into the air as the group the Yalmor began to bellow, calling others like it to its aide before Jenny spoke up to Coran.

"What's going on now?"

"More Yalmors! If they link at the ears, we're sitting on a faunatonium wizplute!"

As they dig at the ground, they began to suck at the ground with their trunks while linking at the ears before bellowing as they shot out bubbles of faunatonium from their snouts before Coran shouted.

"Whoo-hoo! Yalmor time! Pay attention, Paladins! This is how you work together!"

Seeing the opportune moment, Pidge spoke up.

"Alright, lets go."

Immediately, this got Hunk and Lance's attention as they turned to her.

"Wait, what?"

"Huh?"

"Look, is we wanna get back to our regular size, we have to jump in there."

With that, the group began to jump off one by one as Romelle began to get confused.

"Are we actually doing this?"

"Unless you wanna spend the rest of your tiny life on the back of a Yalmor."

"Wait for me!"

With that, they all slid down on the Yalmor before leaping off of the trunk and into the faunatonium bubbles before they all grew bigger and collapsed in a pile as Romelle and Lance spoke.

"Oh, quiznak."

"My back."

As Lance said this, Jenny started to give a little giggle before she went back to a frown, knowing what could've happened if they didn't succeed and sighed, making Lance worried even further as he held his face down.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Black Lion, Keith, Ayame, Belle, Krolia, and Allura were watching over him before Belle spoke to Allura.

"How's it looking?"

"I'm afraid the clone body is rejecting Shiro's consciousness."

Hearing this, Keith began to panic.

"There must be some way you can help!"

"There's nothing I can do."

As Ayame heard this, she began to shed tears before she remembered too well the mark of loss that plagued her as she slammed her fist on the glass, nearly to the point of breaking it, but thankfully the Capsule didn't reach breaking point.

"Fight, Takashi! Please! You can't do this to me again! Please!"

As Ayame wept on the Capsule, Keith and Belle tried to encourage Shiro as well before they spoke.

"We can't do this without you, Shiro."

"You've helped us to become better than who we are. Let us do the same for you..."

For a moment, their pleas went unheard until the body on the monitor was shown to be glowing yellow. After that, a faint coughing cane from Shiro as the Capsule went away while the group looked on in surprise before Keith spoke.

"Shiro!"

"Keith...? I was dreaming. Keith... you saved me."

With that, Keith, Ayame, and Belle hugged him before they spoke.

"We saved each other."

At that moment, the group that sought the faunatonium arrived in the Capsule bay before they all turned to see them as Lance and Keith spoke.

"Shiro's looking better. Alright."

"Where were you guys? We couldn't get a hold of you."

"Well, we were shrunk by a magic skunk, but we ended up using that sparkly dust that makes electricity bigger or whatever. Used it to unshrink ourselves. So, ready to charge up the lions?"

For a moment, Shiro and Keith showed looks of confusion before they smiled as Shiro spoke.

"It's good to be back."

As Jenny showed a dismal look, she spoke to the group as sadly as she had left.

"Yeah. Just great."

With that, Jenny began to walk away, leaving Ayame worried before looking to Lance.

"I thought you said you'd see what you can do for her."

"I tried. But she's just not getting over it. No mater what I do, I just... I can't get her to smile again."

Hearing this, Ayame knew just what exactly she was going through as she bore a look of determination. However, Belle stopped her as she spoke.

"I know what you're thinking, but let me take care of this. She's my sister."

With that, Belle walked away from the room to follow Jenny.

* * *

Inside the White Lion, Jenny was beginning to vent her bottled up feelings as she tensed her hands before yelling as she smashed her hands on its wall, releasing her tears as well before she sank to the floor and wept as she recalled what Alphus did for her as she spoke.

"Why?! Why did you leave me?! I NEEDED YOU!"

As Jenny said this, she continued her sobs for a moment before she wiped her tears away before looking to her stuff and tensing her hands once again. Moments later, Jenny was taking her belongings in her pack before she got out and was surprised to see Belle standing in front of her as she spoke.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Away from here, and away from Voltron."

"What? Why?"

"If no one is going to even take one moment to give a damn about Alphus, why should I stay?"

Hearing her use such a curse, Belle gasped at her before she spoke.

"Did you just use that language with me?"

"You bet I did. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go."

Having had enough of Jenny's passive-aggressiveness, Belle began to snap like a twig.

"No. You're not going anywhere, Jenny."

"Leave me alone. I can't deal with any of this right now."

"Oh, no, you can, Jenny. You really can. Everyone's trying their best to make things better than they are, but all you want to do is make things harder than they should be!"

Frustrated with this conversation, Jenny still had some emotions to let out from being bottled up as she practically shouted.

"Just because you've moved on doesn't mean I have! You don't know what it's like to lose the person that's always stuck by you, and you never will! You can't possibly have any excuse for trying to fix what's already broken! Alphus is dead, and she's never coming back! The worst part is you don't even care about her after what she did!"

"That is not the case at all, Jenny, and you know that."

"Really?! Then why aren't any of you bleeding like I am?!"

"Because we've bled enough already!"

As Belle said this to Jenny, she was shaken as she never heard Belle raise her voice against her little sister.

"We all know Alphus is gone, and that she won't be coming back. But don't you ever think that she means nothing to any of us. You may be right about me not knowing what it's like to lose someone I cared about, but everyone else does. Like Ayame. She told you before about Kumiko, and she wasn't even the first person she lost; she lost her parents, too. Keith lost his father. Shiro lost both his parents. They were Ayame's, too. Allura, Coran, Romelle, even Pidge: they lost their families and friends. They know about everything you're going through."

"What about Hunk?"

"Well, maybe not. Regardless, you're not the only one who lost someone you loved so much. You really had no place or time to say that. We're all still recovering, Jenny. We never forgot about Alphus, Jenny. And we never forgot what she did for us, and you shouldn't either. The loved ones we lost in our lives, we lost because they gave their lives for us. We wouldn't be where we are right now if it wasn't for them. Don't ever forget that. Okay?"

Hearing this, Jenny's tears began to overflow like a waterfall as she tried to answer, but was unable to as Belle spoke.

"Come here."

With that, Jenny didn't hesitate to hug Belle as she sobbed on her before Ayame, Keith, and Shiro walked out of the Black Lion to see Belle comforting her sister as Jenny spoke to Belle amidst her sobs.

"I'm sorry I swore at you. I-I'll never leave you... I promise..."

"That's all I want to hear. Now, let's all go home. They would've wanted us to."

"Okay..."


	2. The Road Home

**Chapter 2: **The Road Home

The next morning, Pidge was at the Green Lion, trying to broadcast a message to Earth. With what's happened between them and Lotor, the Paladins were now facing a long journey ahead of them. Pidge felt it best to try to get to Earth to tell them in advance as she spoke.

"This is Katie Holt, Paladin of the Green Voltron Lion, broadcasting to Earth. Does anyone copy? Over."

For the moment, no signal got sent back to Pidge as there was no transmission playing back to her. So, she tried again, hoping to receive an answer.

"I repeat, this is the Paladin of the Green Lion and part of the Voltron Coalition. If you hear me, please respond, over."

Again, no transmission played back. It greatly unsettled Pidge at the situation of this. So unsettled, in fact, that Pidge forgot about protocol and tried to speak to her father, to see if he was around.

"Dad, are you there?"

For the third time, there was no answer. And so, not willing to endure this torture of not knowing if they're alive, Pidge deserted the transmission and curled up her legs before wrapping her arms around them and burying her head.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside, Jenny was watching the sunrise of the world they landed on as she heard footsteps coming from behind her. Curious to know who it was, she turned to see Lance walking towards her, making her smile sadly at him as she spoke to him before Lance began the exchange in conversation.

"Oh. Hey, Lance."

"You feeling better?"

"A little. Why?"

"Well, you did just swear at your sister yesterday, so there's that."

Hearing this, Jenny blushed in embarrassment before speaking to him.

"You actually heard that?"

"Yeah. Don't worry. It's just me, though."

"Sorry you heard that. It's just... I've always had this thought, ever since the Castle got attacked by the Galra on Arus. I always thought that the day someone sacrifices himself, or herself, would be the day we go home without them. I must be turning psychic, because my predictions never come true. But it did. And... it's not fair. Of all the people to make the sacrifice... why did it have to be her?"

As Jenny held her head down, Lance walked up to her and answered her as best as he could before he stood at the same level of ground as her.

"Well, not that I can read people's minds, but... I've been thinking. Ever since we defeated Lotor and saved the realities from going kablooey, I thought back to how Lotor tricked us. And, believe it or not, it worked so well, he even tricked himself."

"Huh? How?"

"Well, for some reason, I feel like that despite what Lotor did, I think he just went about all this the wrong way. He thought it was necessary to do what he did. He didn't exactly want to start a fight when we confronted him at Daibazaal, either."

"And your point is?"

"All I'm saying is that Alphus must have seen the good in him. She must've known he could make it right somehow. She wanted to give him that chance."

Knowing how Alphus just sacrificed herself for her and Lotor as that memory was practically burned into her mind for all time, Jenny gave a sad smile as she laughed a bit before replying.

"Yeah, that sounds like her. I hope you're right."

With that, the two watched the sunset before they held their hands together.

* * *

Later that same day, Hunk was staring at the Yellow Lion, thinking about how far he had come from being an airsick trainee to a full fledged Voltron Paladin. While Hunk dwelled on this, Romelle came up from behind him and spoke her curious inquiry.

"What are you looking at?"

"Oh, hey."

"Didn't see you there— right there. I'm just checking out the Lion. You know, a good pilot can tell you everything you need to know by a solid visual inspection. It's time consuming, yes, and it takes impeccable attention to detail, but it's worth it, trust me."

"Amazing."

As Romelle began to get impressed, Pidge came up from behind them and spoke to him, making him nervous as she blew his cover.

"Hunk, I just ran a multi-lion system diagnostic test. The report back showed that the faunatonium partially replenished the power cores, but they're still not at 100 percent, so we'll need to take it slow."

Fortunately, Hunk knew a way to save his cover as he spoke up.

"Yep, 'partially replenished' power core. Nailed it. That's pretty much what I got, too."

* * *

With that, Pidge joined the other Paladins as she sat down on one of the crates next to Belle and Shiro before the former spoke up.

"Any luck contacting Earth?"

"No luck. The low peer levels are probably affecting our broadcast distance. I'll keep trying as we head for Earth."

"Okay."

As the report was finished, Lance spoke his relief and disbelief in the current situation of theirs as he smiled lightly before Jenny, Hunk, Pidge spoke next.

"I can't believe we're finally going home."

"Me neither. Mom and Dad are gonna be so surprised to realize they had an alien daughter. Oh! And that my sis has a robot arm."

"I'm gonna hug my parents and never let go."

"I can't wait to see how Dad integrated Altean and Earth technologies together. I bet he cane up with something amazing. And my mom... oh. She's gonna be so mad at me for running away. I hope I'm not grounded."

Hearing about this, Jenny gave a bigger smile than her dismal one, remembering how they used to only worry about that over alien invasions.

"Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, but... I miss worrying about being grounded. At least then, I was back home. Things change fast, don't they?"

At that moment, Ayame and Keith spoke up to Coran as they turned to him.

"Yeah. They do. I just hope not too much has changed back home."

"How long do you think it'll take us to get home?"

"I was just calculating that now. Without the luxury of a wormhole and with diminished power cores... let me see, carry the one... oh. It's gonna take us approximately 150,000 Earth years."

Hearing that time frame, the Paladins became easily aghast as Jenny, Ayame, and Keith spoke up in alarm, the former of the three's responses urging Cilia to cover Sapphire's ears.

"What the Quiznak?!"

"Are you serious?!"

"A hundred and fifty-thousand years?!"

As Lance's soul began to leave him from the revelation, Cilia spoke to Coran about the actual answer.

"I think your counting was off. It's actually a year and a half."

Hearing her answer in place of Coran's, the Paladins groaned in relief before he figured out where he went wrong.

"Oh, right. I didn't carry the three."

Allura then spoke up to the group, reminding them of why they should go that distance in so long a time anyway.

"It's going to be a very long and difficult voyage, but it's our only chance to replace the Castle of Lions."

Fortunately, Allura need never worry about their waning faith as Shiro and Belle spoke.

"There were time when I thought I'd never see Earth again. To be able to go back—"

"It seemed just as impossible for me, too. But now... I'm more than happy to go back, however long it takes."

In compliance with Belle and Shiro's answer, Lance spoke up excitedly.

"Well, What are we waiting for, guys? Let's hit the space road."

With that, Krolia spoke up to the group, knowing that the travel arrangements hadn't been decided yet.

"I suppose we need to figure out who's flying with whom."

This made Babak point out another certain problem as Pidge got confused while he explained.

"And while we're at it, what about the animals?"

"What about them?"

"Well, the wolf can't go with Kaltenecker; wolves eat cows. And the cow can't be in the same area as mice, because aren't cows afraid of mice?"

To correct him, Jenny interrupted as she spoke up.

"No, that's actually the elephants."

Hearing this, Babak, Cilia, Sapphire, and Coran became interested as they spoke simultaneously before she explained while plugging her nose and holding her armpit to act as a trunk.

"Elephants?"

"Yeah. They're giant, grey animals with long noses that grab things and suck up water. That's their trunk."

As Allura pictured a giant creature with a hand-shaped trunk that could suck up a man into it before grabbing him, she couldn't help but find it odd.

"Giants with long, grabbing noses? Earth seems so strange."

Despite this, Keith had an idea on how to go about the arrangements.

"The Wolf is riding with me, but that means Hunk will had to take the cow."

Hearing this, Hunk didn't feel it wise as he spoke up before Lapis irked him and Lance agreed.

"Me with the cow? Not a good idea."

"Yeah, I'm not sure I want to smell two bad odors in the same place."

"Hey!"

"They're right. Keith, you're keeping the cow. Someone else is gonna have to take the wolf."

With that, the group all looked towards Pidge before she noticed and rebuffed their idea.

"Not me. I am allergic."

With that, Allura spoke up about her certain companions that slept with her in the cryo pod, vexing Keith.

"I'll take the mice."

"How come you get the smallest passengers?"

As Allura frowned at Keith in response, Hunk has an idea to decide before Allura spoke up, confusing Jenny before Coran explained as it showed her as a toddler trying to draw her nanny before she ended up drawing a small flying creature with multiple eyes.

"I say we go old school and draw straws."

"But I'm terrible at drawing."

"Huh?"

"She really is. One time, she tried to draw her Nan-nan, but with what she came up with, I've gotta say it liked more like a flan-blan-diplor."

With that, Lance spoke up and had an idea how to solve the traveling partner arrangements, much to Jenny's disbelief.

"Guys, you're all overthinking this. I know exactly where everyone should go."

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me, Jen. It's fine."

* * *

Not long after, Hunk and Sandra began to travel with the mice in his Yellow Lion before he spoke.

"Hunk, Sandy, and mice, ready to go."

In the Blue Lion, Allura spoke up while the wolf remained in the hangar.

"I'm ready, too. But the wolf looks restless. How did I get stuck with it again?"

In the Black Lion, Keith spoke to her while Krolia, Shiro, Belle, and Coran were occupying the space with him before Coran pointed out the obvious question.

"I'd gladly trade you the wolf for—"

"I have a question. Why did we let Lance decide all this?"

At that moment, Jenny spoke up in the White Lion with Ayame and Babak inside it.

"Well, I thought it best to humor him for a while. Maybe he'll learn from his mistake. Hopefully, not at the expense of our sanity."

Overhearing this, Lapis spoke to the group while Cilia, Sapphire, Kaltenecker, Xarnas, and Rogue Thrust were in the Violet Lion with her.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's gonna work out really well."

In response to Lance spoke up as he accompanied Romelle and Xanthia in the Red Lion.

"Enough whining! Romelle, Xanthia, and I are going to Earth, who's coming with us?"

With that, the Lions of Voltron slowly came on before they each took off to the sky before leaving the planet as one half of the mice gave Hunk some treats to eat before the other half gave him a a drink before he sipped it and spoke before Sandra spoke while enjoying the massage on her back that one mouse was giving her.

"Oh, this is so great."

"I know. You guys are like the ultimate road trip companions."

In the Black Lion, Coran spoke up about what to do for the time being.

"Oh, and I get to finally play some of your Earth road games. I'll go first. I spy with my little eye something that starts with 'plexis.'"

Hearing this, Belle tried to explain the concept to him.

"Coran, we don't know the Altean alphabet."

"Well, the this is perfect! I can teach you."

With that, Coran began to sing a rhyme for the Altean alphabet, much to the group's annoyance as Sapphire overheard it and became interested.

"Exus, Plexis, Ceedus, Flee, Jaydus, Nacto, Pleedum, Ree."

"Oh! Oh! I want to listen!"

* * *

In the Violet Lion, as Sapphire tried to reach for communicator, Lapis tried to restrain her.

"No, Sapphire. You don't go to the cockpit. You're supposed to wait in the hangar."

"But I wanna listen!"

"Too bad!"

As Sapphire leaped at the pad in retaliation, Adea caught her and held her as she kicked her feet in the air while throwing a fit before she spoke to Xarnas.

"Uh, her mom is in here, right?"

"She's at the hangar, but she's in desperate need of a nap, which was difficult enough without that bovine creature bellowing."

"Aw, come on!"

Meanwhile, in the Red Lion, Romelle began to let curiosity get the better of her as Xanthia looked at the controls left and right.

"What does this one do? Is this the lasers? Where's the mouth-blade button?"

Annoyed at this, Lance spoke up to her before Romelle tried to give him a good reason.

"It's jaw-blade, and please don't touch that. Romelle, come on. This is a dangerous war machine."

"But what if something happens to you? What if you have to go to the bathroom and you break your leg and then were attacked, and I have to save the day?"

As Romelle said this, Lance and Xanthia gave their looks of disapproval before the latter spoke.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen in this or any reality."

At that moment, Hunk's monitor came up as he and Sandra had a look of terror over them before they spoke.

"Guys, check it out. Ah! We're being attacked by giant mice!"

"Stop! They're eating our faces!"

As it turned out, Hunk has a photo of that as he pulled it away with a chuckle before he explained.

"Ah, just kidding. Sandy and I took these pictures ourselves. They're mice-selfies."

At that moment, Lance spoke up about his situation.

"Not now, Hunk. I got my hands full."

"Oh, man, I gotta send this one to Jenny."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the White Lion, Jenny and Ayame were driving as steady as they could while Babak leered over them as the former whispered to her.

"Ayame, is he still watching us?"

As she slowly looked up from the corner of her eyes, she was met with Babel's judging glare, she swiftly focused back on what's ahead of them as she answered.

"Yeah. He is."

Hearing them talk in whispers, Babak snapped at them.

"What are you talking about, Paladins?! It better be about eyes being on what's in front of you!"

Feeling the pressure from the bodyguard, Jenny spoke up as she began to sweat quickly.

"Uh, yeah! Just gotta keep them focused on the... stars..."

Noticing her fixed gaze on the dark horizon, Babak assumes she was being truthful as he spoke up.

"Well, very good then. I believe you've earned some time to contact your friends."

With that, Babak pushes a button on the communicator synced to the Black Lion, playing Coran's music, making Ayame and Jenny confused before Babak tried to turn it off quickly.

"Never mind that!"

As he tried to do so, however, he couldn't get out of the audio as he grunted before Jenny spoke up.

"Uh, Babak? Maybe don't mess with it?"

"I'm not messing with it! And don't talk back!"

As Babak tried desperately to turn it off, Jenny spoke up to her about the situation.

"And I thought Allura was controlling."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Blue Lion, Allura was shouting at the wolf.

"No! Bad! Stop biting that. Put the Belexiam assembly down right now, or so help me—! Keith, your wolf is tearing up the cargo hold."

"Because he's lonely. Just let him in the cockpit. I will absolutely not let that beast in the cockpit."

Just then, Hunk sent a picture of the mice on Sandra's head as she looked up at the mice sleeping on her.

"Guys, check out this picture. The mice look so cute."

In the Violet Lion, Sapphire was whining for the moment before Luzria noticed the picture of the mice and spoke up to Adea.

"Take her to the communicator! The mice are on."

"Got it. Uh... Hey, Sapphire! Look at the mice!"

As she showed Sapphire the picture, she ceased her crying before she put on a look of wonder and joy as she smiled before Lapis spoke to Adea.

"Phew!"

"Is she okay back there?"

"Yep. She really likes those mice."

As Sapphire reached her hand out to them, however, she found that they weren't real and became sad very quickly before she cried again, making the group inside moan in annoyance before Lapis spoke up.

"How did Cilia manage to keep this kid under control?"

* * *

In the Red Lion, Romelle was running around, messing with the panels and pipes as Xanthia tried to restrain her.

"Oh, this looks shiny!"

"What did you touch?"

"What if I touch this?"

"Don't even think about it!"

As Xanthia triad in vain to hold back Romelle, Lance admitted his failure before Atchiam retorted.

"Guys, I think I did a bad job choosing the passengers."

"Really?! What tipped you off, genius?!"

Just then, Coran's rhymes came on all communicators, calming Sapphire down as she giggled and sang along with him as the group had an annoyed/exhausted look on their faces with Krolia plugging her ears while Hunk and Sandra still posted their mice-selfies with her standing by Hunk doing a casual smile while holding two fingers over his head as Ayame held a look of annoyance as angered as Keith's while Coran and Sapphire sang along.

"Exus, Plexis, Ceedus, Flee, Jaydus, Nacto, Pleedum, Ree."

"Joodum, Ruu, and Leeum, too. That puts us just halfway through."

As they sang along, Pidge was all by herself playing the game she and Lance bought at the Space Mall as problems escalated.

"There's Mai-ox, Kay, and Jibley-Way, Afus, Nofus, Youkus-Play. Beefur, Leefur, Agus-Play, at the end, Flancko, and Blee!"

As Coran and Sapphire sang the last verse, the girl of the group spoke up as Hunk had the mice on his head doing a pyramid while Sandra was shown to be using her hand to act as though she was holding them.

"Again, again!"

"Who wants to see the mice stacked on my head?"

Meanwhile, Keith was covered in a substance similar to foam as he spoke.

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

In the Blue Lion, Allura complained about the wolf's presence as she spoke sarcastically to Keith.

"Wonderful, now everything is covered in wolf drool."

"Oh, yeah, he's super drooly."

In the White Lion, Ayame and Jenny spoke up about Coran and Sapphire's repetition of the nursery rhyme.

"Not to hurt Sapphire's feelings, but I am so done with Coran's rhymes."

"Me, too. I can't get that song out of my head now."

With that, Babak spoke up like a drill sergeant to them as he shouted, trying not think about the rhyme.

"Eyes on the Stars, Paladins! Eyes on the Stars!"

As this happened, Pidge was still playing her game while voices overlapped consisting of Hunk's, Lance's, Lapis's, Keith's, Allura's, Ayame's and Jenny's.

"Say cheese."

"Romelle!"

"Just stop singing, Sapphire!"

"Just let him up front."

"No!"

"Can someone please turn this thing off?"

"I can't! It's stuck!"

Hearing multiple voices all at once, angering him, Keith spoke up before Allura, Lance, Ayame, Jenny, and Lapis before Hunk brought up an issue.

"That's it! We're switching passengers."

"I second that."

"Agreed."

"It's about time."

"See? I told you he'd come around."

"Good grief. I was _this _close to losing it."

"Hey, why haven't we heard from Pidge?"

Hearing of this, Lance began to wonder who went with her himself before Keith spoke.

"Yeah. Wait, who's in her Lion again?"

"I don't know. You're the one that came up with this grouping."

Having an idea, Hunk spoke up before narrowing them down as well as Lapis and Ayame.

"Well, she must have— no, they're with Keith. And the wolf is with Allura, Sandy and I have the mice."

"Romelle and Xanthia are with Lance, and Cilia, Sapphire, and Kaltenecker are with us."

"And Babak is with me and Jenny. So that means..."

Dawning on that conclusion herself, Allura spoke up about the elephant in the room.

"Is she all alone?"

Upon realizing this, the group widened their eyes before Jenny twitched her eye.

* * *

Not long after, Babak, the mice, Coran, Sapphire, the wolf, and Romelle were in Pidge's Green Lion as she spoke before Coran tried to get Romelle off of it.

"Oh, come on, you guys, this is so not fair!"

"I called dibs on playing the video game first."

"But I already have the controller."

"Pidge, tell Romelle to give me the controller. I called it first."

"No. Nope. Nuh-uh. No way. Can't do this."

* * *

Later on, as they traveled in the path to Earth, the Black and Violet Lions picked up coordinates to a nearby system as Lapis and Krolia spoke up.

"Guys, are you seeing this?"

"This is the Klii-Nyn System."

Hearing this, Adea became surprised as she widened her eyes before Lapis noticed that look and became confused.

"That's right! We can get an escort with those guys!"

"Uh... what's at the Klii-Nyn System?"

"There's a Blade of Marmora rally point located on a moon here. We should check in with them and get an update on their operations."

Acting on her mother's instinct, Keith spoke up to the others as the Lions got closer to the coordinates.

"Team, we're going to make a quick stop. Everyone follow me."

With that, the Lions pressed onward to the Klii-Nyn System, where they will hopefully acquire the aide necessary to boost their trip back to Earth.

* * *

When they got there, they found it to be deserted for the moment as they stopped at a large asteroid shaped like a ship. In an attempt to find the help they need, Krolia spoke out to the station as the Black Lion got closer to it.

"Hailing Zailox Station. Please respond. Repeat, Zailox Station. Please respond."

As an answer, Krolia only received static before the Lions landed in the asteroid and Allura pried open the doors before entering them. As they got in, they found the room to be deserted. And it was proven as they looked around and saw the asteroid all over the cave, as if the base crashed into it somehow as Lapis, Xarnas, Adea, Atchiam, Krolia, and Luzria became appalled at the sight before Keith spoke.

"It doesn't look like anyone's been here for years."

With that, Lapis tried to fly over to the control pad up front as she spoke.

"Hold on. We need to find out what happened here."

As Lapis presses her fingers on the pad, however, it didn't have any effect as she spoke.

"Quiznak! The system won't boot. Backup power's too far gone."

Taking a good look around the gloomy scene, which was really the only prominent part of being in here, Hunk had a theory dawn on him, making Krolia suspended in disbelief.

"If the Blade of Marmora abandoned this place, that means something really bad must have happened."

"That's impossible. This bass was still fully operational during my last check in with the Blades."

"I'll give you one guess what it must be. Lotor's troops must've attacked us behind our backs."

Hearing this, Ayame held her head down in sadness before Lapis noticed and refrained herself from speaking anymore as she bore a sad look her way before the station itself shook up as Coran spoke up.

"Enemy ships! Incoming!"

With that, Keith spoke up to the group.

"Everyone, back to the lions."

As they all went back to the Voltron Lions, they didn't notice a dark creature with a red outline, a dark purple mass, and two yellow eyes watching from afar. Despite this, they got to their Lions and took off from the base before Keith saw their fighters in front of them as he spoke.

"It looks like a small fleet. Mostly Galra fighters."

Hearing that news, Lance considered it a comfort.

"That's good. We should be able to take them out pretty easily."

The Green Lion was a different story as the turbulence knocked Coran off of his feet before Pidge and Keith spoke up, oblivious to the wolf teleporting with Coran in tow.

"Yeah, but remember, we're not flying at full power."

"Pidge is right. Everyone, stay sharp."

Suddenly, the wolf popped up with Coran in the Black Lion before the wolf teleported again, leaving Coran behind. As this happened, the lions split up while the Galra fired at them. As Lance swerved away from the Galra, he spoke up about a certainty he picked up during his time fighting against the Galra, the advice of which Jenny made note of.

"Keep an eye out. Where there are fighters, there's usually a cruiser nearby."

"Got it."

As the Blue Lion swerved away from the fighters, Allura didn't notice the wolf teleporting with Romelle in the cockpit before teleporting away as Romelle spoke up.

"Some of these ships look like they belong to Lotor's fleet."

By the time Allura noticed, she could only reply with a question.

"How did you get in here?"

As they braced the explosion, the wolf teleported back in the Green Lion, surprising Pidge as well as Sapphire before she spoke.

"Whoa! How did you do that?"

Suddenly, the Green Lion took a hit before Pidge spoke to Sapphire and the wolf.

"Sorry, guys, it's gonna be a bumpy. Ah!"

With that, Pidge thrusted on the levers, putting the Green Lion farther away from the Galra fighters that shot at her while Keith tried come up with a way out of their peril.

"We need to get out of here."

As the lions dodged the fire, the Black Lion stopped just in front of itself as the Galra's fire would've hit it if it went any further. And while that happened, the Yellow Lion was ambushed by what appeared to be the Sincline ships before they shot quintessential tow cables at Hunk and began pulling him back before he spoke to his team.

"Guys, they've got us. We can't move."

Having heard of his plight, Keith spoke up and took action.

"Hang on, Hunk. I'm gonna get you out of there."

With that, Keith boosted towards him while also putting Krolia, Shiro, Belle, and Coran by the doors as they grunted before Keith summoned a jaw-blade and cut through the cable lines, freeing Hunk as he took off.

"Thanks, Keith."

Lance, however, knew that the way those fighters were going at them, their luck wouldn't last.

"Were getting our quiznacks handed to us. We need to do something. We need to form Voltron."

Remembering how Voltron could easily deal with those ships, especially since they posed a bigger threat than normal, Keith was all in on the plan.

"Okay. Everyone, in formation."

With that, the Lions flew up together while Lapis noticed a problem with her Lion: the keyholes for which to install her Bayards weren't up. As she noticed this, Lance spoke up to Keith.

"It's not working."

"Hold!"

With no change so far, Allura, Lapis, Ayame, and Jenny spoke of the bad news.

"The Lions can't take much more of this."

"Neither would mine. Violet's keyholes aren't working."

"White's in the same boat. That much exposure to Quintessence in the Quintessence field must've fried it out."

"What do we do, Keith?"

Knowing that they'd take an even bigger risk of losing power by forming Voltron, Keith deserted this tactic and gave the order to split.

"Abort!"

As the Lions split up, Lance became curious as to what occurred between the lions as he spoke before Pidge, Hunk, and Keith.

"What the heck just happened?!"

"I'm guessing the Lions didn't have enough power to form Voltron."

"So now what?"

"We run."

As they did, however, the Green Lion came into contact with an invisible force that detonated on it as she grunted while Sapphire held onto the wolf which teleported into the White Lion, much to Babak's surprise before the wolf teleported away with Babak and reappearing in the Violet Lion before teleporting away, leaving Sapphire just as surprised as she noticed Lapis, Adea, Atchiam, Xarnas, and Luzria before Hunk and Lance got struck by the same invisible force as multiple detonations occurred in the area before Lance spoke to the group which responded in the order of Pidge, Allura, and Hunk.

"Is everyone okay?"

"I'm okay."

"Me, too."

"What did we hit?"

In the Black Lion, Coran pushed a button that showed a map of hidden objects, including the ones being hit.

"Xanthorium crystals. They've been cloaked."

Just as Coran said this, the Black Lion got one of the crystals and caused him to fall into his back before Keith pulled away and sped off while the fighters decided to retaliate with a fusion of their blasts before it turned into one giant beam as Pidge barely avoided it as she spoke.

"Whoa! Where did that come from?"

In another display of the fighters' newfound mastery of weapons, one among them fired multiple streams from one blast and struck the crystals as Sandra grunted before she spoke to Hunk, who preceded Allura.

"What the Quiznak is going on?"

"I don't know, Sandy. I've never seen the Galra use weapons like these before."

"And they're not using standard Galra battle formations."

"How are we gonna get away?"

Presented the dilemma, Keith had an idea on how to resolve it with minor to no casualties.

"They're trying to trap us by chasing us through this tunnel of crystals."

As Keith said this, Pidge took notice of a route of cloaked crystals up ahead as she spoke.

"He's right. Look, there are more crystals up ahead."

Upon hearing it himself, Babak spoke while holding Sapphire before Lance spoke up next to Keith.

"Of course! They're corralling us like we're a bunch of Yalmors."

"They got us backed into a corner. We got Xanthorium crystals all around us, pirates behind us, and a cyclone blocking our exit."

"We have no choice. Everyone into the cyclone. Sandy, Hunk, that means you and I are gonna have to punch a hole through the storm and create a path for the team. You ready?"

"As we'll ever be."

"Let's hope it works, Keith."

With that, the Lions pressed onward into the eye of the storm as Lance felt the pressure from the cyclone becoming too much to bear as he spoke to Keith.

"Guys, we can't take much more of this."

"Everyone scan the area for anything we can use for cover. We need to go somewhere where we have the advantage."

In compliance to Keith's idea, Pidge did a scan on the planet below.

"There's a volcanic ice planet nearby. It has geysers, steam vents, ice tunnels, extreme changes in temperature, and an unstable core. It's super dangerous. It's perfect."

"Okay, team. Let's do this."

With that, the Lions dove towards the ice planet through the storm before entering the atmosphere and going in the chasm in front of them with the fighters attacking from behind. As they got lower, Keith spoke up to his team as the fighters closed the distance.

"Alright, everybody, stay in formation and follow me."

Suddenly, up ahead of them, two geysers went off on the sides of the chasm, making Hunk panic as he shouted.

"Geyser. Geyser!"

With that, they swerved over and under the geysers that took out some of the fighters before they shot out at Lance, missing him.

"Ha! You missed."

However, Lance was wrong to suggest that as the fighters were actually shooting at the bridge in front of them before it collapsed as Shiro spoke up.

"Watch out for the falling ice."

As they went forward, Keith had an idea as he spoke up.

"That gives me an idea. Lance, bring up the rear. When everyone's through the tunnel, fire above the cave opening. Red should be fast enough to get in. Dodge the avalanche completely blocks the way."

"Roger that, team leader."

"We'll see each other on the other side."

With that, Lance pulled up to be behind the other lions as they got closer.

"Here goes nothing."

With that, as the Lions flew in, Lance fired a blast at he tunnel, entering at the very last second before the tunnel collapsed as some more fighters failed to get on completely while the remainder managed to infiltrate it. As Lance noticed this, he spoke to Keith about the fighters.

"Uh-oh! Some of them still made it through."

"Split up. We need to thin our attackers."

As the Lions did just that with the Violet Lion and the White Lion taking the right path, the others took the left before splitting themselves up further until they were on their own. While this happened, the Black Lion got hit with a tow line before a soldier went down on it and landed before Shiro and Belle took notice of it via impact warning from the Black Lion.

"He's trying to break in. I'll take care of him."

"No, Shiro. You're still recovering. Krolia and I'll take care of this."

As Shiro looked at Belle, he noticed her look of determination that meant there's no way to talk her out of it as he spoke.

"Alright."

As Belle went up to the hangar, Krolia tried to come along, too, only for Keith to stop her as he piped up while holding his luxite blade in his hand.

"Wait! Take this."

As Krolia took it, she and Belle made a break for it as Coran spoke up.

"I'll help, too."

As he gave chase, though, Coran ended up being tipped into the storage closet of the Black Lion before he spoke up.

"Hello? Krolia? Belle? Anyone? A little help here. Guys?"

On the Black Lion, the soldier hat landed walked his way to the head only for a hatch to open up on its back, making him turn in caution before aiming to fire through the opening. Before he could, however, Krolia's blade stopped him from firing before she landed on the Black Lion's back just as Belle joined her, wearing Shiro's spare Paladin outfit with a helmet on her head as Krolia transformed her luxite blade before Belle made her arm glow light blue and summoning a sword from her wrist. As the soldier charged at them, they did the same to him as they grunted before clashing. While they clashed, the soldier dodged Krolia's sword strikes only to be knocked back by Belle's robot arm before Keith began to spin the Black Lion around as he spoke.

"Hang on!"

As it spun around, Krolia and the soldier tried to hang onto a wing of it while Belle dug her robot arm's claws into it before noticing that the soldier was about to leap at Krolia before Belle removed her claw's grip and fired a beam at him, knocking him away before she ended up back in the hatch she came from before shouting to Krolia as she grew worried for her.

"Belle! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Krolia. I'm fine."

* * *

Meanwhile, the Yellow Lion continuously dodged the attack from the fighter behind it as it swerved away before Hunk and Sandra felt it got hit as it crashed to the floor before the Yellow Lion opened its mouth as Hunk spoke to her.

"Keep her steady. I got this."

With that, Hunk rolled out of its mouth and jumped out with a cautious grunt as he leaped out before holding his bayard to fire at the fighter himself as he shouted. In the process, it seemed to shut down for a moment before glowing blue and firing two mini cannons into the cave structure, allowing them to shoot down the Galra fighter while Hunk fired at it himself, bringing it down as it exploded.

* * *

In the Blue Lion, a Galra fighter swerved in front of it before Allura shouted as she used the lion to chow down on it, impressing Romelle.

"Nice."

However, in doing so, the Galra fighter infiltrated the ship as Allura and Romelle spoke.

"Oh, no."

"What are you waiting for? Shoot him."

"I can't. The jaws are stuck shut."

"I'll take care of him."

As Romelle went towards the entrance, the Galra fighter was scanning the area before he entered where it would normally fire its blasts before Romelle sucker punched him, sending him back on the ship he came from before looking at the source of the Lion's problem. Upon noticing that a beam was stuck in the side of it, Romelle ran to it and moved it aside before she shouted.

"Allura! Open the mouth!"

With that, the Galra fighter was removed and flew off as he screamed before Romelle went back in the mouth.

With that, Keith decided to make a check on the other Lions' condition as he spoke to Hunk, Allura, Lance, Pidge, Jenny, Ayame, and Lapis.

"Is everyone okay?"

"Clear."

"Me too, thanks to Romelle."

"Well, the others and I need help."

"Yeah, we can't shake these guys and we don't have any room to maneuver."

"We're in the same boat here."

"It's like we're sitting ducks."

"How soon can you get to us?"

To answer Lapis' question, Keith noticed a map where the others were and spoke to them.

"I see your location. We're headed your way."

* * *

Meanwhile, Lance, Pidge, Jenny, Ayame, and Lapis were shot down by the Galra as he spoke to the Green Paladin.

"What should we do? You usually have ideas."

"I don't know. My cannon isn't operational."

As Pidge felt a tremor, she grunted before turning to the wolf and speaking to it.

"Know what? Let me know if you have any thoughts. We could really use some help right now."

As an answer, the wolf teleported out of the Lion, surprising Pidge as she raised her eyes before it reappeared in front of the Galra shooting at them and snarled at him as he gasped. As the fighter got in a panic, he ended up swerving the fighter out of control into another before the wolf teleported just as they collided. And then, the wolf entered in another fighter and caused him to fire in self-defense, only to make him lose control of the flying and crash as the wolf teleported into the White Lion, surprising Jenny and Ayame as the former spoke.

"Uh, okay... what just happened right now?"

"I think the wolf just saved us."

With that, the wolf went to Ayame before she petted him forwards as she smiled before she heard its whimper as she spoke.

"Oh, no. He must've gotten hurt."

As the wolf panted and whimpered, Jenny tried to help comfort it as she spoke.

"It's okay. We'll all be out of it soon."

It seemed to be true as the Voltron Lions just got out of the tunnels only to be attacked by a large beacon from the sky that increased gravity on them as they grunted, unaware of the masterminds behind the trap as two of them, Ezor and Zethrid, smiled while the third, the masked general who brought Shiro to Kaecilius after his escape from an ice planet, walked towards them before the former spoke.

"We found them, Commander Zixal. We got the Lions all in one place."

"Excellent. Captain Vaxel will be most pleased..."


	3. The Way Forward

**Chapter 3: **The Way Forward

Out in the void of space, a Galra cruiser was in flight as the hangars now held seven decommissioned lions of Voltron as they were deactivated with countless Galra pirates standing guard over them as the leader of the Pirates marched in, his mechanical arm clenching as he took notice of the lions before checking with his first mates, Zethrid and Ezor as he spoke.

"Zethrid, report."

"The lions are locked in the hangar and the Paladins have been taken to the brig."

"Excellent. And what of Lotor?"

Hearing his name sent chills down Ezor's spine as she remembered what Lotor said he'd do to the Galra once he defeated Voltron. Zethrid took notice of that and soothes her as she brushed her hand on her shoulder before she replied.

"He was unconscious inside the pod. We had to move him to the brig, too, just adjacent to the Paladins."

"Good. If what you've told me is anything to go by, Lotor is as much a criminal as they are. No one threatens the Galra and lives. Splintered though we may be, Lotor will beg for death when he wakes."

Scared of what Lotor could attempt upon waking, Ezor didn't think it wise.

"Are you sure? Why not just kill him now?"

"Engaging in his death so impatiently would rob me of seeing the look of terror upon the young prince's face. Don't tell me _you _don't desire vengeance?"

Before Ezor could counter, she held her tongue and held her head down as she answered before Zethrid spoke.

"I don't know."

"Well, I do. And he's got a point; if we're gonna kill him, we're gonna do it properly."

Seeing her determined look, Vaxel smiled as he spoke.

"That's the spirit. But until then, you are to interrogate the Paladins and find out what Lotor's plan is. Understood?"

"Vrepit Sa."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the brig, Lance was sliding on the wall as Keith, Ayame, Belle, Jenny, Pidge, Hunk, Sandra, Allura, Xarnas, Adea, Atchiam, Luzria, Xanthia, Shiro, Lapis, Babak, Romelle, and Krolia watched before Jenny spoke up.

"Uh, Lance? What are you doing?"

"I'm felling for a secret passage."

Knowing the futility of the plan, Keith and Ayame only spoke up to him.

"You've watched too many movies, Lance. There's no secret passage."

"If there were, don't you think we'd have noticed by now?"

"Oh, really? Then how do you explain this?"

With that, Lance tried to kick a wall down with his leg, only causing it to break as he groaned before muffling his yell as he grunted before trying another wall.

"I meant, uh, this!"

As a result, his other leg ended up getting just as bluntly injured as he hopped on his leg while cradling the one that recently took the blow as he exclaimed before Xarnas.

"Will you please stop that incessant noise?"

As Lance whimpered at this, Krolia looked out of the very thin window the door offered as Lapis inquired of her.

"How's it looking?"

"There's only one guard patrolling out there. If we can get this door open, we can overpower him."

"Great. Any ideas how to do that?"

"Not so far."

This made Lance groan before Babak felt the room to be oddly quiet.

"Wait. I haven't heard any incessant chatter from someone else. Where is Coran?"

This made Krolia turn to him before she replied to Lapis.

"He must have managed to hide when we were captured. What about Cilia and Sapphire?"

"I told them to hide in the bunker when the Galra came in. Somehow, they ended up back where they started in transportation."

Looking on the bright side of things, Allura saw the positive in Coran, Cilia, and Sapphire being able to evade the Galra as she spoke.

"At least we have three allies out there still able to fight for us."

Pidge, however, saw the downside, knowing how goofy Coran is as she spoke before Babak.

"Are you saying our fate rests in Coran's hands?"

"And Cilia's. And Sapphire's."

This made everyone's faces blanch before Pidge looked up to Lance, not willing to trust Coran on that.

"I will help you look for that passage."

* * *

In the hangar, Cilia peeked her head out of the Violet Lion before noticing the guards around them before she went down, making sure they didn't see her before looking back to Sapphire as she spoke.

"Stay here, Sapphire. I'll see what I can do for the others. Can you do that?"

"No! I'm coming, too!"

"Look, Sapphire. There are guards out there. If they catch you, who knows what they'll do to you?"

"I don't care! Uncle Coran and the Paladins need our help!"

This made Cilia confused as she blinked her eyes before resuming her stance on her willingness to go on.

"Sapphire, this is a serious situation. You can't come along this time."

Despite this, Sapphire was just as adamant in her own standing as she poured before she spoke.

"I'm going, too!"

Seeing that there's nothing she could do to change her mind, Cilia only sighed before she spoke.

"Okay. But stay on my back and be quiet, okay?"

Satisfied that she got to come along, Sapphire nodded with a smile before she hopped on her and Cilia proceeded to get out of the hangar as she tiptoed quietly before hearing the wolf's whimpers from far away as her ears pricked up while she gasped. This gave her an idea. Due to recent events, she and Sapphire found out that the wolf could teleport. If they could find it, they could rescue the Paladins and Coran. And so, Cilia acted on that instinct and quietly walked around the lions as she avoided the guards and the cameras towards the Black Lion where the wolf's whimpers could be heard.

Little did they know that someone else was trapped in it as Coran banged on the door as he grunted and growled after his efforts proved to be in vain. Despite this, Coran persisted as he comically tried to pull open the door like a regular one. Nevertheless, it did not budge as Coran panted before he spoke to himself.

"Quote the sticky wicket I find myself in, hmm? _Absolutely True Tales of an Incredibly Humble Hero. Chapter Fourty-Three: A Hero's Escape. _I find myself in the cargo hold of the Black Lion, a strategic and very conscious choice on my part. It's on me to free my compatriots and save the day. Luckily, I'm up to the task. Some men shrunk in the face of danger, while others stand up and say..."

Just then, Coran heard a loud clanging as he exclaimed before taking his flashlight and looking around for any sign of what caused the clattering, only to find Alura's mice there as they squeaked at him before he became relieved.

"Oh! Uh, hello, little friends. I didn't see you there. Oh, uh, just so yo know, I didn't scream because I was scared. That was a shriek of intimidation, by which I mean it would intimidate you. Well, anyway, I'll get us out. Hmm. And then the world will read about us in my memoirs, _Absolutely True Tales of..._"

However, fate had other plans as the door suddenly opened before he suspected that the Galra gave infiltrated the Lion and sat up straight before reacting.

"Aah! You'll never take me or my friends alive, you quiznacking pirates!"

As Coran made swift punches of intimidation, Cilia only blinked her eyes in confusion before she cleared her throat.

"Ahem. It's us, Coran."

Upon realizing what he'd just done in front of Cilia and Sapphire, Coran began to blush before he spoke.

"Oh. So it is. Cilia! Thank the ancients you're alive! Wait. Where's Sapphire?"

As an answer, Sapphire giggles before she peeked her head out from her mother's neck.

"I'm right here, Uncle Coran."

Seeing Sapphire behind her, Coran quickly realized that as if his 'punching' wasn't enough, he'd also cursed in front of Sapphire. This realization made him go in a deeper shade of red as he spoke.

"Oh! Right. Uh, how much did you hear?"

"Just that you wouldn't be taken alive by those quiznacking pirates."

As Sapphire said the curse so casually, Cilia made an unimpressed scowl at him, making Coran shrink as he spoke.

"Maybe I'll try thinking of more... appropriate words next time, Hmm?"

Despite having missed the mark, Cilia only smiled at him as she spoke.

"Good."

Just then, Coran noticed the wolf just beside Cilia and Sapphire as he spoke.

"And where were you this whole time? We could've really used some help in there."

To answer for the wolf, Cilia showed Coran its injuries as she pointed to its back.

"He wasn't in any position to help. It looked like he was hurt during the attack."

As the wolf whimpered, Coran felt bad for it as he rubbed its head before he spoke.

"Well, you just sit tight. Old Coran is on the case."

This made Sapphire ecstatic as she spoke up.

"Yay!"

"Which means you and Sapphire will have to stay behind, Cilia."

"Aw."

As Sapphire moaned, Cilia tried to change his mind as she spoke.

"But we came all this way to help, Coran. I'm not going to stop now."

"But who's going to look after the wolf? Who knows if the guards would even think about looking in the hangars to be sure they didn't miss anyone? Besides, you didn't exactly have any training in the ways of combat. But _I _on the other hand..."

With that, Coran engaged in junior us poses as he made random noises reminiscent of one performing King Fu. Seeing this, Cilia didn't exactly believe that he'd truly defeat them. But faced with that possibility, Cilia realized he did have a point about her training. With that, she was forced to concede as she spoke.

"Okay. But only because the wolf needs help."

Hearing this, Sapphire didn't want to stay without Coran as she spoke.

"But I thought we were going with him?"

"Well, it's okay, Sapphire. Uncle Coran will keep us safe."

"Really?"

As an answer, Coran knelt down to her and rubbed her little head as he spoke meaningfully.

"That's right. Don't you worry your pretty little head about it, Sapphire. I'll protect you and your mum."

This thankfully earned a smile from Sapphire as she hugged him and spoke.

"Okay. I trust you, Uncle Coran."

With that, Coran began to hug them, too before he spoke.

"Okay. Now, I best be o—"

Before Coran could move outside, however, Sapphire was revealed to have clung onto Coran before he and Cilia spoke.

"Oh. Looks like I've got a stowaway."

"Sapphire, let him go."

"Aw, Mom!"

* * *

Later, after having sorted out the situation with Sapphire, Coran moves out of the hangar of the Black Lion with the mice as he noticed a guard just in front of him with his back turned before he spoke to them.

"Now you stay here. I'll take care of the enemy combatant."

However, the mice had different ideas as they ran off the lion before jumping onto the guard, making him take off his mask before he ended up bombarded by the same two mice that landed on him by the mask as they made him panic before the rest joined in the chaos. As Coran tried to join in, he tripped and fell of the lion before inadvertently smashing his crotch into the guard's face as a ding dong sound was made. Shortly afterward, Coran stripped the guard of his outfit and tried them on himself as he looked at himself.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zethrid walked in the room to see Ezor by herself. After Vaxel gave the order for interrogation, Ezor had been feeling jittery about it, worried about what they'd find out, if not about Lotor, who could be bound to wake up any moment. And so, it came as a relief that she found her.

"There you are, Ezor. If you're worried about Lotor, him and his pod are locked down in the cargo hold, so he can't get to you."

"Are you sure, Zethrid? Lotor's made it out of far worse than a door. Don't you think that maybe... he's actually capable of worse?"

"That's what we're going to find out."

"What if he does wake up? What do you think he'll do to us?"

"I will always take care of you, Ezor. Don't worry. We'll be fine."

"Do you really believe that? The officials were withered away to dust. What if we end up the same way?"

"Just look at what we've done already. We just took down a Galra cruiser. And we have him and the mighty Paladins of Voltron locked in our brig. Well, Vaxel's brig, but that's beside the point. We are destined for greatness, Ezor. Trust me."

This earned a small smile from Ezor as she spoke.

"I do. Now let's go torture some prisoners."

"That's my girl."

Just then, Vezek appeared behind them as he spoke.

"There you two are. Lost your nerve already?"

To answer, Ezor stood up and spoke to him.

"For a while. But it's passed."

"Good. This inconvenience had better not happen again."

* * *

Meanwhile, Coran was sneaking in the hallway as two pirates were talking to each other.

"And then, I heard they was giving away free Kalteneckers with every purchase."

"Wait, did you say 'free?'"

Just then, Coran moved upward to speak to them.

"Greetings, fellow scallywags. How's the booty?"

This made the pirates confused as they spoke intermittently.

"Booty?"

"Anyhow, how's— how about capturing those Paladins, eh? Ha ha. Remind me where you're— I mean, uh, we're keeping them."

Upon closer inspection, the female pirate became suspiciously as she spoke.

"Wait a second. That's Blofar's scarf! He stole it from that Valdostian before we flushed him into space."

This made Coran try to talk his way out of the situation as the male pirate surveyed him further.

"That's right, and I won it from Blofar in a game of Gorblonthian Checkers."

"But Blofar hates Gorblonthian Checkers."

"Yes, that's right, which is why we used the Melmakian Rule set."

This made the female pirate increasingly more suspicious than before as she spoke.

"Did you say 'the Melmakian Rule set'?"

"Did I? What— what I meant to say was..."

"Who are you?"

As an answer, she felt a vent grating hit her head before looking up to see Acxa jump on her before leaping off and attacking the other as she kicked him back, knocking him unconscious before Coran took off his mask and recognized her.

"Wait, aren't you one of Lotor's generals?"

"Acxa."

* * *

In the brig, the Paladins, Belle, Lapis, Romelle, Adea, Atchiam, Luzria, Xarnas, Sandra, Krolia, Xanthia, Shiro, and Babak looked up to see Vezek, Zethrid, and Ezor walk in the room as they showed looks of surprise as Ezor, Vezek, and Zethrid spoke.

"Look at that. It's Voltron."

"The fact that you're actually here strains belief."

"We're going to have a little talk."

Upon seeing them, Adea became relieved as she spoke elatedly, confusing Ezor while Atchiam spoke to Zethrid as she glared at her, knowing that somehow or another she's changed. Whether it was for better or worse, she couldn't say, so Atchiam had to keep her distance to be safe.

"Yay! You guys are okay! I'm

so happy!"

"Hello, Zethrid. How you holding up?"

"Well, you get a lot of free time, you pick up a thing or two."

After which, Lance recognized them as he spoke before Pidge, Hunk, and Adea.

"Hey, you're the guys that Lotor shot into space."

"And the ones that were trying to kill us."

"Yeah, sure, but we're all friends now, right?"

"Yeah, Ezzy. You can relax. I, for one, am glad you survived."

"I'm glad you survived, too. It's no fun torturing a dead person."

This made Adea surprised as she spoke.

"That's not what I wanted to hear."

At that moment, Lapis saw why Atchiam was so cautious and could already guess what they're here for as she spoke up to them next, trying to reason with them, for Adea's sake.

"Guys, listen. You don't have to do this. We come from a line of true warriors. We don't turn on each other; we stand _for _each other. How can you just ignore that?"

This made Vezek scoff at Lapis' attempt to reason as he spoke.

"Imagine that. A Galra turning out to be less than trustworthy."

At that moment, Ayame spoke up in Lapis' favor as she stood up and walked by her.

"We weren't always that way. We used to have a strong sense of right and wrong, but you let Zarkon take that honor away!"

This made Zethrid snap as she spoke to Lapis.

"Honor?! Where was your honor when you and Lotor slaughtered Narti?!"

This made Ayame confused as she widened her eyes before she spoke.

"What?"

"We're referring to you and Lotor's assassinations at the Karl Zera. Narti was one of the people you killed."

"Answer the question! Why did you and Lotor do it?!"

This made her stunted as she spoke.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about."

This made Adela confused as she spoke before Ezor and Zethrid replied.

"Hey. Wait a minute. How do you know she did it?"

"She's Lotor's brother, after all. She had to be conspiring with him to exterminate us. I think there's a little confusion with how the 'we ask questions, you give us answers' scenario works."

"Enough of your games. Why did you do it?"

As Ayame was still stunted, Keith spoke up to them next.

"Ayame had nothing to do with it. She and Lotor were in the Quintessence Field when it happened."

Vezek didn't believe him as he spoke.

"That doesn't add up, boy. If what you say is true, then why did Ezor and Zethrid see you just outside the Quintessence Field _before _the assassination?"

Hearing this, the group became shocked as Vezek spoke onwards.

"Thanks to them, we know that your attempt to hide yourselves via explosion was linked to the Assassination of Karl Zera, so you can keep that lie to yourself."

"It's not a lie—!"

Before Keith could speak further, Vezek thrusted his first at his chest, causing a dark purple gust of concentrated wind hit him in the chest, making him groan as Ayame grew worried.

"Keith!"

Having dealt the blow, Vezek spoke before Zethrid and Ezor as Atchiam showed a frown to them.

"That was a warning shot, boy. Lie to us again, and I won't hold back."

"Which reminds me. I'm going to ask you one more time, and then we're going to have to take a more extreme approach."

"The fun part."

"Yeah. I'm sure it is."

Hearing Atchiam's sarcastic comment, Zethrid became flustered as she spoke.

"For the last time, why did you assassinate the Galra at the Kral Zera?!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Acxa and Coran were hiding away as the former kept an eye out so that the guards wouldn't see them as they passed by. When she was turning back to Coran, Acxa was utterly surprised by Coran's close up as he spoke.

"What are you doing here?"

In a reaction to the close up, Acxa backed up while putting her hand in front of his face. Fortunately, he wasn't attempting to get a kiss, nor that he wanted to, so Acxa went back to her normal position as she replied.

"I picked up the signal you were sending to your home planet. I assume that's how Ezor and Zethrid were able to intercept you."

"But why are you helping us?"

"We don't have time for that now. Your friends and Lotor are being held in a detention cell several floors below us. We have to find a way to free them, get to your Lions, and most likely blast our way out."

This made Coran remember how weak the Lions were when they got in as he spoke.

"Well, that'll be a challenge. The Lions are nearly too weak to fly. They'd be little help in a fight."

"So if the entire pirate fleet comes after us?"

"We'd be right back here or shot into space."

This gave Acxa an idea as she got out a holo map on her gauntlet as she spoke.

"We're gonna need a distraction, not to mention an escape route."

As Coran looked at the cruiser's schematics, he noticed a way to provide both as he spoke to Acxa.

"Oh, there's an ion cannon in hangar one, right next to the Lions."

"That should work. In the event of a hull breach, these cruisers are designed to seal off the other hangars in order to maintain the ship's integrity. We can use the ion cannon to blast a hole in the hangar door. The other doors will seal."

"So the pirates would only have escape pods to chase after us until they override the system."

"You free your friends and find your helmets and weapons. Once I blow open the hangar, you and your Lions will be sucked out into space."

"Right. We'll be ready to go in five doboshes."

With that, Acxa and Coran split up, the latter unaware that a crucial part of his disguise, a helmet, was left behind.

* * *

In the brig, Zethrid spoke to the Paladins and their allies as her patience had reached its end before Ezor spoke up.

"If you insist on maintaining this charade of ignorance, you leave us no choice but to apply pressure."

"Finally. Who's our first victim?"

As they looked around, Zethrid had an idea where to start as she spoke while focusing on Ayame.

"You. I bet half my fleet you're right about this one being Lotor's sister."

"Well, let's go find out."

As Ezor walked towards Ayame, Keith became protective as he spoke.

"Don't you touch her!"

When he tried to intercept Ezor, Vezek swiftly punched him in the gut before kicking him to the wall in almost a second as Ayame and the others grew worried as she spoke before Vezek coldly mocked him, making her just as protective.

"Keith!"

"Your defiance is admirable... but at the same time, it's your weakness."

"Leave him out of this!"

Just then, Ezor grabbed Ayame by her hands with her antenna and pulled her in before holding her by the collar as Shiro shouted.

"Ayame!"

As Ayame was now caught in Ezor's grip, Belle tried to help as she spoke.

"Leave her alone!"

As Belle said this, Vezek got in between her and Ezor as he vanished and reappeared with superspeed as Ayame groaned in her grip.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Black Lion's cargo hold, Cilia and Sapphire were brushing on the wolf's fur as it whispered before the child looked up to her mother.

"Mom? Do you know how to make him feel better?"

As Cilia looked at the injured wolf, all she could do to answer was such as she spoke.

"I don't know. All we can do is keep an eye on him. I don't know how long he can recover."

As the wolf looked up to Cilia, she drew her face closer to it as she spoke.

"It's okay. You can rest."

However, the wolf had other plans as it weakly barked before trying to stand up on its feet, to which Sapphire noticed before she tried to catch it in case it fell down on the ground.

"Wait! You can't go. Not yet."

Despite the pain, however, the wolf still pressed onward slowly as it tried to leave the door before Cilia looked out and knew that the guards would come for them soon as she spoke to the wolf in whispers.

"Shh, shh, shh. It's okay. You haven't rested enough yet."

Given its condition, the wolf seemed to lay itself back down on the ground before it slept. However, seeing the wolf's recovery, Cilia began to have an idea as she spoke.

"Hold on... how did the wolf get here when he's injured?"

Witnessing its teleportation firsthand, Cilia could figure that it most likely would've been hurt in trying to save the Paladins. The fact that it could teleport despite it was a feat in itself. And it could be the answer she needed to take new action. Truth be told, Cilia didn't quite like the idea of being left behind, even if she didn't know how to fight (not that she could say Coran did either). But of course, she didn't want Sapphire to get hurt or to be at a bigger risk of being noticed. That's where the wolf came in as she spoke.

"Hold on. I think I've got an idea."

"Hmm? What is it, Mom?"

"Sapphire, hold on to it. When it's ready... we're going to help Coran find our friends."

* * *

What they didn't know, however, is that at that very moment, Acxa was landing on an ion cannon and saw it beeping red before it opened up the commands and she integrated the commands to her gauntlet before proceeding to activate it. Unfortunately, at that same moment, the guard who was knocked unconscious woke up from being knocked out and noticed he was naked before he panicked while covering his undergarments and headed off to the alarm before pressing it.

"We've got an intruder in hangar one. Send backup!"

With that, the alarm beeped in the halls, making Cilia and Sapphire concerned as they spoke.

"Oh, no!"

"Did they find us?"

Fortunately, the wolf, injured as it was, knew how to fix that as it suddenly teleported along with the two. Unfortunately, Acxa didn't have that luxury as she was being blasted by the guards before Acxa moved in to attack them as they shot at her and missed before one of them used a whip to try to incapacitate her. However, it was in vain as she dodged it and the gunfire before she took care of them quickly.

* * *

Meanwhile, Coran snuck to the halls before realizing his blunder when they split up.

"Where did I put that helmet? Huh, just gonna have to do this the old fashioned way."

With that, he changed his skin color to dark purple before suddenly, Cilia, Sapphire, and the Wolf appeared out of the blue beside Coran, surprising him as he exclaimed before covering his mouth and whispered to them before Cilia replied.

"Cilia? Sapphire? What are you doing here?"

"The alarm went off. We had to do something."

"So, you somehow got the wolf to teleport you to where I am?"

"Well, uh, technically no. It did that on its own."

"But it was injured. How could it possibly—?"

Just then, he took notice of a guard just passing by before he shut himself up and whistled casually before he wanted to put an end to the argument so he could move on.

"Okay, look. You guys can come along, but stay put until I say it's safe. We can't have the pirates catching us."

With that, Cilia and Sapphire nodded as the former whispered.

"Okay."

With that, Coran moved forward before looking left and right and then aimed to open the door on his left. However, in doing so, he attracted the attention of a colossal Galra pirate as he looked up to see him and spoke up.

"Ah, hello, there. It looks like your shift is up. I'm here to replace you."

However, the pirate was unconvinced as he spoke.

"My shift just started. Who are you? Hey, is that Blofar's scarf?"

As steam began to exhume from the pipes on the pirate's collar, Coran was left with no choice but to engage in battle as he spoke.

"Fine. I challenge you to a battle of fisticuffs!"

Seeing this in action, Sapphire became eager as she peeked her head out and whispered.

"Go get him, Uncle Coran!"

With that, Coran tried to combat the giant as he threw his first punch to the chest, only to break his hand as he screamed before the pirate moved closer, making him worried.

"Easy there, big fella. Simmer down now."

As Sapphire grew worried as she spoke, Cilia took notice of the mice scurrying off to the Paladins behind the pirate before she put her focus back on Coran.

"Oh, no."

"It's just a little scheduling conflict."

"We need to help him. But how?"

With that, Cilia looked to the wolf before it looked up at her in confusion.

"I don't suppose you've got any ideas?"

This made the wolf grumble in confusion as she sighed.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the brig, Acxa was knocking out the guards as one fell to the floor she ran from the rest that are firing at her. As she took cover, she opened up the commands on her gauntlet and pushed a button before she ran off as the guards noticed that the ion cannon was powering up as purple electricity was coming online.

Meanwhile, in the brig, Ezor was pushing Ayame up the wall as she groaned while she moved her legs before Ezor spoke, making Keith speak to Ezor to save her.

"Answers!"

"We told you, she—"

Suddenly, an explosion shook the cruiser and the people in the brig before a computerized voice spoke its current problem.

"Hull breach in hangar one. Lockdown sequence initiated."

As Vezek growled at this, Ezor had a feeling who was behind it as she whispered.

"No..."

With that, she dropped Ayame to the ground as she, Zethrid, and Vezek ran out of the brig before the door closed on them as Krolia and Lapis moved closer to it as the former spoke.

"This is it. The next time that door opens, overwhelm the guard."

With that, they went to the left and right sides of the door before they heard a guard groaning as he came under attack before the door opened and they looked to notice the mice on top of the guard as they squeaked, making Allura relieved as she spoke.

"Hello, little friends."

With that, the mice began squeaking to Allura, detailing to her what's going on since they've been captured as she spoke.

"What? Where?"

This made Luzria curious as she spoke.

"Where? What's going on, Allura?"

"Coran's trying to rescue us. And he's got help. Cilia, Sapphire, the wolf, and Acxa."

Hearing her name, Keith and Ayame became puzzled as they spoke.

"What?"

"She's really here?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Coran just got punched to another end of the hallway before he tried groggily to stand up and head back at the colossal pirate as he began to see double from the concussion as he shook his head before speaking.

"Joke's on you! I've got you right where I want ya."

With that, Coran swung his punches and missed before steam hissed on the pirate's armor. It was at that moment that Cilia hopped on the Pirate's back and blinded him as she covered his eyes with her hands, making him teetering all over the hall, trying to shake her off, at which point, Allura pulled a big sucker punch on his back, knocking him out before she shrank back down to normal size as Cilia helped Coran up before looking to Allura while the latter spoke to the pirate.

"Thank the ancients you got here, Allura."

"See? You got lucky."

With that, Ayame and Keith went to Coran before the former spoke.

"Coran, where's Acxa?"

"I don't know. Where am I?"

Seeing his condition, Cilia became worried as she spoke.

"Are you sure you're okay, Coran?"

"Never better. Now let's get our 'belmards' and 'hayards.'"

This made Cilia smile at him as Sapphire went to them while helping the wolf walk.

"It's okay, Coran. We got you."

"Oh, thank you, Princess Allura."

This made Cilia surprised as she widened her eyes before a blush cane over her and gave a smile as she helped him walk forward.

* * *

Meanwhile, as the alarms came on, Ezor, Zethrid, and Vezek were running to the hangar as Vaxel spoke to them via communicators on their gauntlets before Zethrid replied.

"Would either of you care to explain to me _what_ exactly is going on?"

"We don't know. Somehow, there's been a breach in hangar one. We suspect the intruder might've pulled this trick."

"Then find him and keep him from leaving alive. I'll head out to intercept."

As Vaxel said this, the Lions were now floating out in space before the doors began to close just as Acxa left that door and stood in front of Ezor, Vezek, and Zethrid as the second and first of the three spoke.

"Acxa, what are you doing here?"

"I should've known you'd show up once we got the Paladins. She's always been sweet on that one with the flippity hair."

In retorsion, Acxa spoke to Ezor, reminding her of her relationship with Adea.

"So? You cared about someone against us, too. Whenever you talked about Adea, she made you happy before Lotor tried to kill us. How could she mean nothing to you now?"

This made her blush as Vezek looked to her with a growl before she tried to explain before Acxa proceeded to Zethrid.

"What? She was so cute back then."

"And Zethrid, Atchiam respected you as a warrior, but you didn't care enough to act that way. What has happened to you two?!"

This made Zethrid furious as she shouted.

"Enough! I don't need anyone to tell me what makes a warrior! Not Atchiam, not you!"

With that, Acxa was left with no other choice but to fight as she entered a stance while grunting as they charged at her before she jumped over them and used her whip to trip Ezor as it caught her leg before Vezek moved in to punch her, only for her to dodge his assault, allowing Ezor to recover before she grabbed Acxa, only for her to lift herself up and toss her at Vezek and Zethrid before she ran away from them as the trio of danger gave chase.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Paladins and the others found their way to the helmets and bayards before they noticed that the guards were playing with them as one of them put Hunk's helmet on top of his head.

"Hey, how do I look?"

"Mm, kinda dumb."

As his partner groaned, the guard was curious about how the bayards worked as he held Pidge's green one.

"Do you think there's a switch on here or something?"

"I cannot wait until that thing turns on and cuts your head off."

As they noticed this, Keith spoke up in a whisper before Jenny.

"Our bayards."

"Great. They have weapons and they don't. They clearly don't know how to use them, but still. Any ideas?"

Just then, Coran popped out from behind Jenny and in front of Lance as he shouted, still punch drunk from fighting the colossal pirate.

"Unhand those bayards, you scallywags!"

As Jenny pulled Coran back, they were too late to shush him as the guards looked behind them as Coran muffled his shouting while Lapis and Adea spoke.

"Well, there goes the element of surprise."

"What do we do now?"

Fortunately, Keith knew what to do as he closed his eyes and was concentrating on getting his bayard back as the black bayard glowed purple before he obtained it from where it was as it suddenly appeared in his hand before turning it into a sword as he prepped his shield before charging in as Coran, Cilia, Babak, Lapis, Atchiam, Ayame, Lance, Allura, Pidge, Adea, and Hunk watched in terror as Keith fought the guards as he slashed at them and missed before a guard shot at him and failed to hit him as he blocked the fire before Keith lowered his shield and landed a few punches before summoning his sword to slice through his armor, wounding him as well as piercing the armor as the thin slash caused purple blood to come out in a very small amount before he knocked the other one down by smashing his head against the wall, making him groan before he was dropped to the floor. While this happened, Sapphire tried to see what was going on as she peeled from Coran's shoulder only for Cilia to lower her head quickly. After the altercation, Keith put on the black helmet of his armor before he turned and spoke to the group.

"Lance, lead the way. Keep the team together."

With that, Keith began to head out as Lance became worried about where he's headed.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Acxa saved our skin. I'm not gonna leave her behind."

Just then, Ayame, who'd just now retrieved her helmet, came up to him as she spoke.

"Neither am I. I'm going with you."

"Alright. But keep on your toes. We'll be back as soon as we can."

And so, Keith and Ayame took off in the hall, looking for Acxa as the rest of the group got their armor back, with the exception of Babak, Coran, Romelle, Cilia, Sapphire, Belle, and Shiro as they had extra suits to wear in order to survive the vacuum of space, except for Cilia and Sapphire as Lance spoke up.

"Let's get to the Lions."

* * *

With that, the group headed off to a gate as Lance was about to pull a switch before Cilia spoke up as Coran had an idea.

"Wait! Sapphire and I don't have space suits."

"No, but you have the wolf."

This made Cilia look to the wolf as it looked at her before she spoke.

"Okay. Think you can do this?"

As an answer, the wolf began to stand up as straight as it could get before Sapphire and Cilia hung onto it before they were teleported into the Violet Lion's cargo hold before Lance opened the air lock, sending him and the rest of the group out of it before they headed to the Lions as Lance and Jenny spoke to which Pidge replied.

"You guys all saw that, right?"

"Did any of you know the wolf could teleport?"

"Yeah. It's been crazy."

Just then, they were suddenly being shot at by the pirates before Lance, Jenny, and Pidge turned around to fire at the Galra coming at them as the middle of the group had a blaster that she took from a guard.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the cruiser, Ezor ran up on the wall to kick Acxa back before using her antenna to whip at her just as Vezek moved in to punch her back at superhuman speed, knocking her away before Zethrid moved in on her like a truck as she rammed her, knocking her back. With that, Ezor moved in with flips, ready to deal the final blow before Keith showed up, blocking her with her shield before he pushed her back as Ayame arrived with him before Ezor and Zethrid spoke.

"Oh, look, Acxa. It's your favorite Paladin."

"So do you guys actually know each other?"

"Yeah, don't you remember how she never wanted to kill him?"

"Aw. I guess it is true love."

This made Keith very anxious and angry as he spoke to move on with the conflict.

"Can't we just fight?!"

With that, Keith moved in on the three before a mechanical arm popped open through the hall before grabbing his face and chucking him to Acxa and Ayame as they grunted before the owner of said arm spoke.

"No, my friend. This is no mere fight... it'll be your execution!"

* * *

Outside, Hunk was moving at lightning speed before he went behind a guard and blinded him with his own cape before kicking him. After which, he turned his bayard into a machine gun and scattered the pirates before Acxa snuck up on one of them and pulled off a component on the jet pack, making him fly out of control before Coran, with the mice in his helmet, put up his dukes as he saw two pirates behind him before they took notice of the Green Lion behind him, making them run away as he smiled.

"Hmm, must not have wanted any more."

However, as he turned around, he saw the Green Lion coming towards him as it opened its mouth before swallowing him in it.

Meanwhile, Ezor kicked Keith back before she attempted to plant her foot in his chest with her flips before he dodged her and she moved in towards him. All the while, Ayame was using her bayard to counter Vezek's advances with her dual naginata, only for him to sidestep her swings very easily before he moved in to punch her, only for Ayame to dodge it and trap him with her staff as she put his arm in between her weapon and her shoulder before flipping him to the wall. All the while, Zethrid and Vaxel engaged Acxa as she punched the former and kicked her back before moving on to Vaxel, who ended up kicked in the face first before Acxa used the momentum to do so again. However, Vaxel blocked her kick as he snarled before punching her with a grunt knocking her to the doorsteps as she grunted before Keith used his jet pack to push Ezor to the wall, knocking her down before she fell to the floor just as Zethrid rammed Keith and Acxa through the door just as Vezek countered Ayame with a hard and vicious punch when she moved in to strike, only for him to appear behind her and deal the blow before Ayame joined Keith and Acxa as Vaxel, Ezor, Vezek, and Zethrid moved in while Keith, Acxa, and Ayame took notice of the compound around them as they spoke.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"Synthian Nitrate."

"But how do we detonate it?"

This gave Keith an idea as he spoke up to the group.

"Guys! Zero in on our location and fire on the ship."

In the Blue Lion, Allura became worried as she spoke.

"Are you sure?"

"Just do it!"

With that, the Paladins took notice of Keith and Ayame's current location before they all fired at their location just as Keith, Ayame, and Acxa took off quickly before Vaxel snarled as he knew they had something up their sleeves. And he was right as an explosion came at them, knocking Zethrid, Vezek, and Vaxel back while Ezor was seemingly engulfed in the explosion. After a moment, the explosion spread through the rest of the cruiser before Keith, Ayame, and Acxa got out of the ship just as Ayame noticed Lotor's pod just outside in space, presumably knocked out into orbit from the explosion as she gasped.

"Lotor..."

Desperate in trying to save him, Ayame reached her hand out for him while trying to move towards him, only for Keith to hold her back so that she doesn't fly off course.

"What are you doing?"

"Lotor's out there! I have to save him!"

As Ayame held her hand out, a dark purple mist swirled around her hand before it extended it flowed a purple light on her hand, making the pod float over to her, Acxa, and Keith before he looked on in surprise as he spoke.

"Whoa... how are you doing that?"

"It's part of my powers. Honestly, I didn't think I'd have to use it."

With that, the trio absconded with the pod into the Black Lion before they took off from the self-destructing cruiser.

* * *

Later, the Paladins and the others landed on a rocky planet that seemed to be covered in dust as they took refuge in a cave with Hunk and Sandra bringing in firewood as they spoke.

"Uh, Sandy and I just looked at the Lions, and they're in worse shape than ever."

"The battle with those pirates must've worn them out."

Shiro has an idea how to remedy that as he spoke up.

"We should give them some time to recharge before we head back on our way."

With how much had happened on their time with the pirates, Adea was surprised by how cold Ezor had been to her.

"I just can't believe how much has changed those past few weeks."

This confused Acxa as she spoke.

"'Weeks'? What are you talking about?"

Allura found it confusing as well as she tried to explain it to her.

"The last time we saw you. You were fighting us alongside Lotor."

"That was three deca-phoebs ago. No one has seen you since your fight with Lotor."

This made Jenny, Ayame, and Keith surprised as they spoke to Acxa.

"Wait. For real?"

"We were gone for that long?"

"That's impossible."

"It's true. After Lotor jettisoned us, we managed to make it to cover in a meteoroid. There we saw both the Voltrons and Lotor disappear. Eventually, the Voltrons re-emerged... alone. But then, there was an explosion, and after that... nothing. That was three deca-phoebs ago."

This blew Jenny and Lance's minds as they spoke intermittently before Allura spoke.

"Whoa..."

"So, as far as everyone else on the universe is concerned, Voltron has been gone for three deca-phoebs?"

As Hunk dropper most of the firewood in shock, Pidge knew it explained a lot about their situation.

"That explains the discrepancies in the star charts in our Lions. I thought they were off because of our inter-dimensional jumping, which I guess they were, in a way. Because when you think about it, that must have been the cause of the time slippage between our experience and that of the rest of the universe."

Keith was curious about something else as he turned to Acxa.

"So how did you end up here, helping us?"

Zethrid, Ezor, and I were marooned on the meteoroid for days. Finally, a Galra ship came to investigate Lotor's last known whereabouts. We took it over. Shortly after, we heard about those that tried to take his place as ruler of the Galra, including Narti, Syn, and Kurziam. Those that arrived there... never came back. Because of that, it was clear that there was a power vacuum in the Galra Empire. Zethrid and Ezor wanted to exploit that for their own gain... but I knew I had to find my own path. And it led me to you."

"Thank you... for saving us."

This made Acxa smile at Keith before she spoke onwards, making Allura and Jenny tense at what Lotor had done.

"I hope that this makes up, in some way, for the wrong I've done. I realize now that Lotor wasn't the man I thought he was. He preached unity, but in the end, he sought only power."

"I understand how you feel. I fell for Lotor's lies as well."

"No kidding. At least _you're _the one who admits it. But Lotor? He's nothing but a monster, just like his father. It's because of himthat Alphus is gone forever. Lotor played Alphus for a fool... _He_ should've been left to die instead of _her_!"

As Jenny said this with a shout, Ayame gasped at her words before tears began to stream down her face, making Jenny realize that her words were those that were never meant to be said out loud as she tried to take them back, only for Ayame to interrupt her as she spoke.

"Excuse me. I'm gonna be outside for a moment."

With that, Ayame took her leave and went out of the campfire before she walked to a ledge and sat down before she began to sob as she covered her hands over her face, ashamed of what Lotor had done. When Jenny looked outside to notice this, she saw her upset and felt bad for saying it in front of Ayame as she held her head down before she noticed the mice scurrying outside, confusing her before they went up on top of her shoulders, making her cease her tears as she looked at them while they cuddled next to her, making Ayame smile at them before Jenny sighed as Acxa spoke with the group in the meantime with Hunk, Pidge, and Allura responding.

"You got it."

"I'll do everything I can out here to help the Voltron Coalition."

"Wow, so everyone that was helping us thinks we're dead."

"Wait. I haven't been able to get ahold of my dad on Earth or Matt and the Rebels. What's happened to them in the last three years?"

"And if Ezor and Zethrid became warlords in that time... what else has changed?"


	4. The Feud!

**Chapter 4: **The Feud!

Somewhere in front of a live studio audience, an announcer was speaking to them as lights circled around the stage before an alien language popped up on the screen just as the show's host, a green alien with four arms, floating ears and a buttoned trench coat, belted and floating on a hovering device, rose up and greeted the audience after the announcer.

"Hello and welcome to another exciting episode of the craziest game in the galaxy: 'Garfle Warfle Snick!' And now here's the host of 'Garfle Warfle Snick...' Bob!"

"Thank you, Norlox. Hi, everybody. Welcome to another exciting edition of Garfle Warfle Snick, the game where anything you garfle will be warfled and vice versa. I'm Bob. Now let's meet the intergalactic goofballs we've got playing with us today."

Just then, Allura, Hunk, Lance, Jenny, Pidge, Ayame, and Keith ended up on the podium to Bob's right with seven boards in front of them as they spoke, surprised with the environment around them in the order of Allura, Hunk, Jenny, Keith, Pidge, and Ayame.

"What is this place?"

"Looks like some kind of game show."

"For real?"

"What's happening?"

"I don't know. The last thing I remember, we were all flying in our lions."

"So, we ended up here along the way, then?"

Suddenly, Bob hovered over to Keith with a microphone before he spoke.

"Hi, there. Tell us your name and where you're from."

"What is this?"

"Uh-oh. Looks like somebody wasn't listening to Norlox."

As Bob pointed to an anthropomorphic lizard with a red suit and tie, as well as a comb in his hair, he gave a disgruntled 'Hmph' in response as the audience laughed before Bob spoke to the audience.

"Tell him what it is, everybody."

"Garfle Warfle Snick!"

"That's right, the name of the game is Garfle Warfle Snick. Now, tell us your name son."

Left with no other choice, Keith conceded and gave his answer.

"My name is Keith? How did we get here?"

"I'll tell you how Norlox got to be in the show. His uncle owns the studio."

As Bob and the audience laughed at Norlox's inheritance as he showed a disgruntled look, Bob went on to the introductions.

"Alright, Keith, why don't you introduce us to the rest of your team?"

In compliance, Keith gave his answer in the following order before one of them spoke to the audience with a wave.

"We're the Paladins of Voltron. This is Allura, Hunk, Lance, Jenny..."

"Hi!"

"Pidge, and Ayame. But you haven't answered my question. How did we get here?"

As an answer, Bob spoke up, making Jenny curious as she inquired of him shortly after.

"I hope not the same way I got here."

"How did you get here?"

"A moofglider was jackknifed in the Haldar Expressway, and it took forever to get past it. I still smell like moof."

This made the audience react in disgust before Bob continued on.

"Okay, Keith, I'm sure you know how to play our game. All you've gotta do is accumulate quaz-cenbullion credits, and you win. Of course, if you don't, you'll hear this sound."

Just then, a sad trombone played before the audience made a groan in response before Bob proceeded.

"And that means you're trapped here on our studio for the rest of eternity."

As they heard the stakes, Hunk became confused as he and Pidge spoke while Lance was giving a blank face of shock before Bob made light of the question.

"Wait, what?"

"Did you say we'll be trapped here for the rest of eternity?"

"Uh-oh. Is there an echo in here? Echo in here?"

Despite this, Keith was not willing to play this gamble as he was more interested in going home.

"I don't know who you are or what's going on, but we're getting out of here."

"Oh, I don't think so."

With that, Bob snapped his fingers and got the feet of the Paladins trapped in a yellow field that covered them and prevented them from leaving as Allura gasped before she, Lance, Pidge, and Jenny tried to free their legs, only to fail as Lance, Pidge, Jenny, and Ayame spoke.

"My feet are stuck."

"Mine, too."

"Am I really gonna be standing the whole time? What if I need to sit down?"

"What did you do, Bob?!"

As an answer, Bob spoke menacingly as his voice changed in the second half of his first sentence.

"See, all of you are guests on my show, **and you will play my game as long as I want you to. **Understand?"

As an answer, Keith and Ayame did a cautious nod while everyone else rapidly did so before Bob spoke to the audience and then to Norlox, who got out a card and spoke of its event.

"Great! Let's start with our first warfler. Tell us what it is, Norlox."

"The first warfler is... Pictation!"

With that, a screen went down from the ceiling before Keith was hovered to the stage as Bob spoke.

"Come on over here, Keith. Pictation, the drawing game. Now, Keith, the answers will pop up on your screen where your team can't see them. It's up to you to draw the people and places you've seen during your adventures as a Paladin of Voltron. While your team tried to guess the answers. Are you a good artist, Keith?"

"I, uh..."

"Well, I hope you're a better drawer than a talker, huh?"

With that, Bob used a wave of his hand to change the appearance of Keith's head so that it had a pacifier in his mouth and his mullet being held up in a ponytail as the audience laughed before Bob spoke.

"Let's put blazzle hoochas on the board. And... go."

With that, a female voice spoke to Keith before he proceeded to draw.

"The answer is Arusian."

With that, Keith began to draw the answer as the Paladins looked at the board and tried to guess as Hunk spoke before Pidge, Jenny, and Lance.

"It's a rock! Balmera!"

"Olkari Cube!"

"A Weblum!"

"It's a chicken!"

Hearing this, Jenny looked to Lance before she spoke to him.

"When did we see a chicken in outer space?"

"I don't know. It's not my fault Keith can't draw."

As Keith continued to draw, Lance continued to guess before Allura figures it out as she spoke.

"Rooster! A chicken hawk. A chicken with a beard!"

"It's an Arusian!"

With that, Bob confirmed it to be the answer as he spoke.

"Correct!"

Next, the voice spoke to Keith again, this time being a weapon.

"The answer is Blade of Marmora."

As Keith began to draw the sword, Lance, Hunk, and Jenny spoke up, trying to guess it, making Keith break his pen before Ayame knew what it was as she shouted before Bob spoke.

"What is that, chopsticks?"

"It's something from space, Lance."

"Space chopsticks?"

"No, Lance. Obviously, it's a sword."

"Wait. It's the Blade of Marmora!"

"Right again!"

Up next, the voice gave out a vehicle as an answer to Keith before he proceeded to draw it.

"The answer is Red Lion."

When he drew it, though, Lance confused its appearance before Jenny picked up on it.

"Dog! It's a dog!"

"A Lion!"

With that, Keith nodded before he moved his arm to make Jenny guess as she spoke fast.

"Okay, uh, Black Lion, Blue Lion, White Lion, Yellow Lion, Red Lion!"

Fortunately, Jenny managed to find the answer as Bob spoke.

"Red Lion is right!"

This made Jenny relieved as she sighed before Ayame spoke.

"Phew."

"Nice job, Jenny."

Then, the voice asked him to draw a person as it spoke.

"The answer is Haggar."

With that, Keith began to draw what he could remember from Haggar as he scribbled away while Lance guessed away before Jenny tried to think of who it best described as she spoke.

"Pepperoni. An alligator! A cave, a windy cave! Oh, no, no, no. What is that thing called? It's a thermos!"

"Uh, Kaecilius? No! It's, uh, Sendak? Wait, it's Varek! Final answer!"

Unfortunately, neither one was correct as the timer on the wall buzzed before Bob spoke, making Jenny and Lance miffed as Keith joined the group.

"Oh! Time's up."

"What?"

"No way that was blazzle hoochas."

"Looks like our other team is gonna have the opportunity to steal."

This made Ayame confused as she spoke.

"What other team?"

As an answer, a board adjacent to them showed the Galra symbol before figures of Zarkon, Haggar, Lotor, Kaecilius, Komar, Sendak, and Morvok rose up before their real counterparts poofed in the air, making Keith, Jenny, Ayame, Lance, and Hunk speak up in surprise.

"Zarkon?!"

"Kaecilius?! And Komar?!"

"And Lotor, too?! Wasn't he in his pod?!"

"No way!"

"This can't be happening."

With that, Bob went over to the other team as he spoke to Zarkon.

"Good afternoon."

"Hello, Bob."

"Why don't you introduce yourself to the audience and tell us who these wonderful people are with you?"

"I'm Zarkon. This is my lovely wife, Haggar."

"Hello."

This made Bob go over to her and smirk before Lotor grumbled and turned his head while Kaecilius bowed and Sendak growled as Komar did the same action while Morvok stood smiling.

"Hubba hubba."

"My son, Lotor, my high priest, Kaecilius..."

"It's an honor to make your acquaintance."

"My second-in-command, Sendak, my scientist, Komar, and one of my insignificant underlings, Morvok."

"I am such a big fan of the show. I can't believe we're here!"

With them all introduced, Bob went on with the game.

"Well, welcome, welcome. It's good to have you all on with us, especially this lovely."

As Bob moved his eyes up and down, Zarkon playfully chuckled before he spoke.

"Watch it, now."

"Alright, Zarkon, have you been watching backstage?"

"Yes, I have."

As the Paladins glared at Zarkon, with the exception of Allura, Hunk, Jenny, and Ayame, Bob spoke to Zarkon about the answer.

"The Paladins of Voltron have scored three correct answers, but now you and your team have the opportunity to steal all of their points if you can correctly identify what ol' Keith was doodling on there."

"Well, I'd rather steal their lions than their points."

"Yeah, I bet you would."

This confused the group as Hunk, Jenny, and Allura spoke.

"Uh, why are they acting like that?"

"Yeah. I've never seen Zarkon smiling like that before. And on top of that, wasn't Lotor in his pod?"

"It doesn't matter. There's no way we're going to lose to the Galra."

With that, Zarkon chuckled to himself before he spoke to Bob.

"But seriously, I think I can guess this. You might not like the answer."

"Uh-oh. Don't wanna stir up any trouble with the missus."

"She doesn't look like that drawing, but I'm pretty sure the answer he was going for was..."

"Fingers crossed."

"Is it Haggar?"

"That is correct! The answer is Haggar."

With that, as Zarkon made a sweat on his forehead with a cautious smile, Lotor pumped his arms while Kaecilius applauded as Komar made a smirk to the Paladins while Sendak and Haggar made no motion as Morvok did his punches in celebration. All the while, Hunk, Ayame, Keith, and Lance spoke on the situation.

"This is really bizarre."

"I know. I didn't think of them in _that _sort of dynamic."

"Windy cave?"

"Hey! I'm not a mind reader."

With that, Bob spoke to Zarkon on what to do next as he spoke.

"So, Zarkon, you have garfled the first warfler. That puts you in control of the board. Do you wanna play or pass?"

As an answer, Lotor spoke up to Bob as he shouted before turning to Haggar and turning away from her, clearly upset at her.

"Play! I spent centuries perfecting my exquisite, lifelike renderings. Not that you cared."

"I treasure your art."

When Haggar tried to place her hand on his arm, Lotor pulled it back quickly as if she were a disease, earning Zarkon's reprimand.

"Don't touch me, you filthy, filthy hag!"

"Don't speak to her that way, you insolent whelp."

In a fit of disgruntled anger, Lotor attempted to strike Kaecilius with a slap, only for the latter to open a portal between him and Lotor, making another appear for him to slap Morvok, making him exclaim before he spoke.

"Ow! I didn't do nothing!"

Seeing the scene, Bob poked fun at the Galra as he spoke to Zarkon.

"Family, am I right?"

"They are quite a handful."

"So, what's it gonna be, Z?"

"Well, I've always said that the best offense is a good defense."

"Sounds like you're gonna pass."

"I am. And I think I'd also like to play this."

As Zarkon said this, he got out a card with a blue flower on it as the audience ooh'd while Bob spoke.

"Uh-oh! The solo card! That means one of these Paladins is gonna have to take the next warfler alone. The question is, Zarkon, which one is it gonna be?"

"Well, I think there's really no choice here. I'm going with... the dumb one!"

As Zarkon said this, he pointed to Lance, making him confused before he spoke, making Jenny whisper to him.

"Who's he talking about?"

"Uh, he's talking about you."

As Lance grew miffed at this, Bob spoke to the audience before Norlox.

"Wait, I'm the dumb one?"

"It's time for a word from our sponsors. But when we get back, Lance will be starting the next warfler all by his lonesome. Stick around."

"Garfle Warfle Snick is sponsored by..."

* * *

As if on cue, the stage changed to show the store that Pidge, Lance, and Jenny went to before at the Space Mall as the owner showed various items from Earth such as CD's, a toilet, a broom, a vacuum, and a video game console along with a cow available for purchase as he spoke.

"Come on down to 'It's Earth', for the craziest Earth deals in the galaxy. We've got throwing discs with cases. Twenty GAC, or six for a hundred. We've got a luxury seat that doubles as a water fountain. That's two-in-one for one low price: 1,500 GAC. Yggiz aliens would say, 'I'm snarloff in the cranker!' And they're right! We've got a foot scraper. Forty-nine GAC. A skin sucker for your foot scrapings. Fifty-seven GAC. The arcade 3000 exercise machine. Twenty-five hundred GAC. And don't forget, each purchase comes with a free Kaltenecker. That's right, we're out of our crankers!"

* * *

After the short informercial ended with the cow mooing, Norlox announced the game's return as Lance was at center stage with Bob before the latter of the two spoke.

"And now, back to Garfle Warfle Snick."

"Right before the break, Zarkon's team decided to make one of the Paladins of Voltron play solo the next round, and the Paladin he chose was the dumb one, Lance. Hey, Lance, how's it going?"

Given his apparent title as "the Dumb One", Lance was not really in a good mood.

"Well, you know what, I'm not too happy about being referred to as 'the dumb one,' like, 18 times."

"Oh, it was only about four times, you big dum-dum."

This made the audience laugh while a sad trombone played Bob spoke again to Lance.

"But now you've got a chance to change all that and show everyone how smart you really are. Are you ready for that?"

"Absolutely."

In response to Lance's reply, Bob turned to the audience and spoke to them before Norlox as they applauded.

"Okay! Let's give Lance a big round of applause! He is a great sport. Norlox, tell Lance what the next warfler is."

"The next warfler is Faces From the Past!"

With that, Bob turned and spoke to Lance.

"A little walk down memory lane. Lance, you know how this game goes, am I right?"

"Uh, yeah! Totally."

"What do you think, audience? Do we believe this beautiful dum-dum?"

As the audience replied 'no!', Jenny piped up before Bob spoke.

"Hey! He's _my _dum-dum!"

"I know you're telling the truth, Lance, but just for the folks at home, let's run through the rules real quick. Now, you're gonna see pictures of some of the folks you've met on your adventures around the galaxy. All you have to do is tell us their names. I'll give you a goolian credits for each one you name correctly, adding to the points you'll need to earn your freedom. How does that sound?"

As a reply, Lance responded confidently.

"Sounds like we're doing to be getting back to Voltron pretty soon."

"That's the spirit! But just to make sure you don't get any help from your friends, let's lower the isolation shield."

With that, a pipe fell from above on top of Lance with a green mouth holding onto it before Bob spoke.

"Perfect. Now let's see our first mystery face from the past."

With that, the pictures began going randomly before slowly stopping on Kolivan before switching to a masked Blade of Marmora, making Lance speak confidently before being caught off guard.

"Easy. That's Koli— What? Who's that?"

As Bob spoke, Keith was pointing to his luxite blade while Allura looked at Lance with a glare, Hunk bearing a nervous look, Pidge slumped onto her station, and Jenny holding her fists by her sides as she grew anxious with a worried look while Ayame stood with her arms crossed.

"He's an important figure. Someone who helped you in your fight against Zarkon."

This made Lance consider Keith's action and pondered this as he spoke before Bob.

"Hmm. Keith keeps pointing at his blade, so..."

"Oh. That's a pretty big clue. Have you got a guess?"

For a while, there was a pause as Jenny was in suspense as she spoke to herself before Lance answered.

"Come on..."

"Blade-y. Bladey?"

With that, a buzzer blared, making Allura tense in anger while Hunk fainted, Ayame gave a disgruntled sigh, Jenny did a face palm, Pidge made a weird face as she still slumped, and Keith still maintained his position while Bob spoke.

"Oh! The answer is Antok."

As Zarkon pumped his fists in celebration, Lance remembered him as he spoke while Kaecilius smirked as he and Lotor high-fived each other before Lance and Bob spoke.

"Yes!"

"Oh, yeah, that guy."

"Kolivan's right-hand man who fought valiantly for the good of the universe. This next one is a little more personal. I think you'll remember this gal."

And so, the board began to swiftly change from one face to another before showing one of the mermaids who he visited that had a blue jellyfish on her head when he and the others were scattered before it switched to another with a yellow one.

"Ooh! Her? Yeah, that's Plax— Uh, her? Uh, she was the serious one?"

"That's right. What was her name?"

"Uh... oh! Hold on. Okay? I know this. She was the one who measured my head for the jellyfish hat."

As they saw this, Allura, Hunk, Jenny, Pidge, Ayame, and Keith became hopeful as Pidge held her hands over her head while Lance and Bob spoke.

"She rode on a giant manta ray."

"We need an answer."

"Ah... mm. Wait, was it jelly? No, no! Shelly!"

Unfortunately, it earned another buzzer before Lance made a blanched face as Bob explained the answer.

"Her name is Swirn."

"Swirn? Huh. Never would've come up with that."

As the Paladins grew increasingly frustrated with it as Allura made a sad face, Hunk's a shocked face, Jenny an embarrassed one, and from Pidge and Keith angry faces, Jenny knew he had a point as she spoke.

"We didn't really stay long in there anyway."

Meanwhile, Zarkon's team was celebrating as he, Lotor, and Morvok celebrated with the leader doing a motion with his hands that would've been called dancing if he moved his legs while Lotor and Morvok switched positions in a seating motion while Kaecilius and Komar gave a smirk while Sendak maintained his position with a smile as Lotor and Morvok chanted before Bob spoke to Lance.

"Go Galra! Go Galra! Go Galra!"

"Your team is starting to lose faith in you, Lance."

"I'm just not real good with names. I'll get the next one."

"I hope so. Let's see the next face from your past."

With that, the board began popping up one character after another before slowly coming to Nyma before Lance spoke at the last moment as it changed to Rolo.

"Finally, a name I know. Quiznak! Can you guys stop changing it at the last second?"

This made Jenny speak to herself as she knew of her role when they first met.

"Come on, Lance. There's no way you'd forget about him."

"Hmm. This guy, this guy..."

"You remember."

"He faked the distress signal."

"He stole the Blue Lion and made Jenny angry enough to try to blow him to wozblay."

As Bob said this, the audience gasped at his use of words before he blushed and tried to correct it as he spoke to the audience.

"Pardon the language."

"That, too."

"What's his name?"

This made Lance think the hardest he ever had to about his name as he grunted while he spoke.

"Okay. It's on the top of my tongue."

"Traveled with Nyma and Beezer."

"Yeah, Pidge loved that robot."

As Lance inhaled, Allura, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith tried to form a word with their body positions before they spelled "ROLO" as Jenny and Ayame pointed at the letters beside them, only for Lance to give a regrettable answer.

"Nope. I got nothing."

This made the Paladins change the letters to "KILL" while Jenny and Ayame groaned before Bob spoke to Lance.

"Rolo!"

"Rolo!"

"You are terrible at this."

"To be fair, we've met a lot of people."

At that moment, Jenny realized something as she spoke.

"Wait. How could Lance hear what Bob's saying in that? I thought it was the Isolation Chamber?"

As an answer, Lance spoke back, only hearing nothing in the isolation chamber as he spoke.

"Huh? What did you say?"

Having received that as an answer, Jenny blinked her eyes before she spoke.

"Huh. I guess it works."

"Well, this is the last face, Lance. If you finish without a single correct answer, you know what that means."

"No, what?"

With that, the audience began to chant Snick as they shouted, making Team Galra ectstatic, save for Kaecilius, Sendak, and Haggar as they maintained their indifferent faces while Lance grew worried as he spoke to Bob.

"I can't hear what they're saying. Is it 'Snick?'"

"That's right! Miss this next question, and I will be forced to hit this button, which will shoot you out of the studio and into the lair of the Snick. Show us the Snick, Norlox."

With that, the board showed the creature that Kuron had to fight off against in his isolation before it roared, making Lance panicked as he exclaimed before Bob spoke.

"Ooh-hoo-hoo! He looks hungry. Fun fact, it can actually survive the coldest temperatures, even absolute zero."

This made Lance shout to him as he spoke to Bob.

"What?! Nobody said anything about the Snick!"

"Well, it's in the title of the show. 'Garfle Warfle Snick!'"

"I wasn't listening to that! You know I'm the dumb one!"

"Well, here's your last face, dum-dum. Look carefully."

With that, the audience cheered as Lance spoke up, confusing Jenny.

"Quiet! I need to concentrate!"

"Uh, Bob? Are you sure the isolation chamber is working?"

"As long as he can't hear you, of course it's working. Now back to the game."

With that, the board began to scramble through different pictures before slowly stopping in a certain alien that Lance and the others worked with in the show biz. Fortunately, he recognized it.

"It's Bii-Boh-Bi! Bii-Boh-Bi!"

As an answer to Lance's guess, he earned a jingle as Allura, Ayame, and Keith sighed while Jenny whistles as Hunk cried tears of joy and Pidge cheered before Bob spoke, making the audience groan in disappointment.

"That's right! You are not gonna get fed to the Snick. They are savages. Well, sorry, Zarkon. Looks like you're going home."

With that, Morvok spoke up before Haggar turned to him.

"It was just fun being on the show."

"Shut up."

With that, a hole popped up underneath them and caused them to fall into it as they screamed before Bob spoke.

"And now, since he's the only person in the galaxy Lance can remember, let's bring him out! Ladies and gentlemen, star of the hit stick-com, 'Bii-Boh Me,' the one and only Bii-Boh-Bi!"

As the sticklike alien walked over, Jenny smiled as she recalled how Coran gave him a hard time before she spoke about him while Bob spoke to him.

"Nice to see he's doing okay."

"Bii-Boh, welcome back to the show. Seems like you've been pretty busy since we saw you last."

"Bii-bi-boh, bi-boh-bii, bii-bii-bii-bii, bi-bi-boh, bii-bii!"

This made Bob laugh at what he said before Lance tried to join in the laughter as Bob spoke to Bii-Boh-Bi.

"Okay, Bii. You're an old pro at this, so maybe you can help this dum-dum out."

"Bii-boh, boh-bii."

"Norlox, what is our next warfler?"

As an answer, Norlox got out a card and shouted.

"It's the Garflator!"

This made the audience become interested before Bob spoke.

"Alright, now, as everyone knows, the Garflator is worth vezcenbullion credits. So, Lance, this could get you and your friends well on your way to freedom."

This made him determined as he spoke.

"Let's do this!"

"Of course, if you don't answer the five questions correctly, you'll end up in the Garflator, where you'll be slowly cooked alive."

This made Jenny worried as she gasped before Lance spoke.

"What? Come on!"

"Let's put blazzle hoochas on the board."

As the timer went on behind the Paladins, Bob spoke to Bii-Boh-Bi about the game.

"Bii-Boh-Bi, you're giving the clues, and remember not to say the word."

"Bii-Boh."

"Start the Garflator!"

With that, the monster mouth began chopping down on the pipe near Lance before Bii-Boh-Bi tried to speak to Lance as he moved his arms.

"Bii, bii-boh-bi."

Unfortunately, it didn't help him as he spoke.

"Um, I have no idea what's happening right now."

"Bii! Boh! Bii!"

With that, Lance tried as best as he can to guess in Bii-Boh-Bi's language before he spoke.

"Bii?"

With that, Lance got a jingle as Bob and Jenny spoke.

"Correct!"

"Keep it going, Lance!"

Taking her advice, Lance kept at his pace in Bii-Boh-Bi's language.

"Boh-boh..."

"Bii?"

"Bii..."

"Bii-boh?"

This made Bii-Boh-Bi flustered before Lance spoke again.

"Bii-Bii?"

This made another jingle play before Bob spoke as the Allura hugged Hunk as he, Pidge, Ayame, and Keith cheered while Jenny smiled as the game went on with Bii-Boh-Bi and Lance.

"That's two!"

"Boh..."

"Bii!"

"Two more to go!"

"Bii-boh-boh—"

Suddenly, the buzzer blared at Bii-Boh-Bi before Bob spoke.

"Oh, you can't say the word."

"Bii-boh..."

"Boh-boh, bii-bii-boh-boh-bii-boh."

As the fourth jingle came on, Lance pumped his hands before Bob spoke again.

"Final clue. Running out of time!"

"Boh-boh-boh!"

"Bii-boh-bii-bii?"

"Boh-boh-boh, boh-boh-boh-boh, boh-boh-boh!"

"Bii-bii-bii, boh, bii-boh, boh, boh, bii-bii-bii!"

Just then, the buzzer blared at him before the mouth swallowed him and the pipe whole, making Allura and Hunk give a stunned face as Pidge and Keith slumped down in defeat while Jenny had a look of shock as Ayame had her hand over her mouth while Bob spoke as Lance ended up in a tank of warm, green liquid.

"Oh! So close. The answer was Bi."

"I said that!"

"Give it up for Bii-Boh-Bi, everybody!"

With that, Bii-Boh-Bi walked away from the stage as he spoke.

"Bii-boh, bi-bi-bi-bi!"

"When we come back from the break, we'll see if Lance's fellow Paladins can get him out of the Warflator before he gets turned into hot pudding."

This made Jenny confused as she spoke.

"Wait, didn't you call it the 'Garflator?'"

"Well, as you would say, Jenny, po-tay-to, po-tah-to. Anyway, we'll be back right after this."

* * *

With that, Norlox spoke as the screen changed to show Vrepit Sal in front of his restaurant as he smiled before it showed him holding a plate of food, followed by a snack bag showing Haggar as Zarkon, Lotor, and Morvok appeared as well.

"Garfle Warfle Snick is brought to you by Vrepit Sal's! Come on down to Vrepit Sal's for family fun and approved imperial flavors. For a limited time, get a Haggar snack pack every time the Melgregian Fitzers score three havers in a sprat! Vrepit Sal's! Sustenance prepared right."

* * *

After the short informercial, Norlox announced the return of the game as he spoke while Bob hovered in the center of the stage.

"And now, back to 'Garfle Warfle Snick.'"

"Welcome back, everybody. The Paladins of Voltron are trying to win their way off the show, but they just lost one of their team to the Warflator. How's it going over there, Lance?"

When he looked over to Lance, Bob saw that he was getting comfortable in it as the Paladin replied back.

"Actually, this feels great. The goo is nice and warm, and it feels like its exfoliating me."

"Well, eventually, it'll eat through your skin. But let's see if one of your friends can help you out. Like, for example... Jenny here."

As Bob pointed to her, Jenny got surprised as she widened her eyes before she spoke.

"Huh? Me?"

With that, Bob flew over to Jenny before he spoke to her.

"Well, hello, beautiful."

"Uh, hi. Just, uh, what are we doing here?"

"We're playing the game."

As the audience laughed at the clever whip, Jenny tried to explain before Bob brought up someone he knew, making her confused as Allura piped up.

"That's not what I meant."

"Oh, always questioning everything. Just like your mom."

"Wait, what? You know my mom? But I thought she was on Earth."

"Please let us go. The universe needs Voltron."

"Well, then the Paladins of Voltron are just gonna have to get serious about winning this game. Now, which one of you do you want to play to free Lance, huh? Who's the brainiest of the team?"

For them, it was practically no contest as they all simultaneously pointed to Pidge as they spoke in unison.

"Pidge."

This made Bob speak up to her as Pidge was hovered to the center stage.

"Alright, little fellow, step on out here. Norlox, tell us what the next warfler is."

With that, Norlox spoke up as he read the card.

"It's... Bankchannel!"

With that, a miniature golf course appeared, making Pidge recognize its familiarity as she spoke in elatedness before Bob.

"Hey! Miniature golf."

"Miniature what?"

"This game, it's... never mind."

With that, Bob proceeded to explain the rules of the game as he got a club, swung it at the ball and got a hole-in-one before handing it to Pidge.

"Alright, let me show you how to play here. All you have to do is hit the sphere through the bankchannel into the tunnel. Easy. Think you can do that?"

"I think I can handle it."

As Pidge started to play, she began analyzing the course and the trajectory of the swing she'll take as Bob spoke.

"Oh. Very serious."

With that, Pidge looked back to Jenny and began to consider what she said about the tank. Earlier, he called it the Garflator, but later on, he now called it the Warflator. With that in mind, Pidge began to take it in consideration as Bob spoke.

"The hole is over there."

Or was it? With how backwards he's been with the tank, odds are, the goal might be just as opposite. So, instead of swinging it directly at the hole, Pidge swung it at the camera, breaking it as it bounced off before it hit Lance's tank, setting him free as the goo spilled out before hitting Bob and making him spiral out of control before Pidge leaped on him and extorted him.

"Let us go now!"

Unfortunately, that earned a blare of an alarm. However, it wasn't what they think as Bob smiled and spoke.

"It looks like the Paladins have just made it into the final round!"

With that, the stage rest itself as Lance was now back next to Jenny and Hunk as he noticed his surroundings before Hunk spoke.

"Okay, I know I've said this before many times, but this is the freakiest thing I've ever seen."

Just then, Bob floated over to the Paladins and gave out what is to happen in the final round as he handed out seven pieces of paper.

"One of you will now be allowed to leave the game. The rest of you will be staying here with me forever. You have blazzle hoochas to write down your choice for who should get to escape on the screen in front of you. Go!"

With that, six walls went up in between the Paladins before they each took their time to consider their choice for who would get to leave as Jenny sighed before she drew on the paper while Keith, Ayame, and Pidge were just writing it down like they were taking a test as Lance rubbed his head with the eraser point of a pencil while Hunk had it next to his mouth in deep thought before Allura considered her choice and wrote it down as Bob spoke.

"Final hoochas. Make your selections, everyone."

As time ran out, everyone had already finished writing down their choice before the walls went down as Bob spoke.

"Hunk, let's start with you. Who'd you vote for?"

With that, Allura's picture came up on the monitor on his podium before he explained.

"Uh, well, Bob, I voted for Allura. I figured she's the princess, and she's such a natural leader, you know. The universe needs her more than it needs the rest of us, plain and simple."

Feeling grateful for his words, Allura smiled before she spoke.

"Aw. Thank you, Hunk."

"Allura, who did you vote for?"

As Bob asked this, Allura explained while Pidge's picture popped up on the monitor.

"I selected Pidge. She and her family have the best chance of rebuilding what my father started."

"Interesting. Jenny, who got your vote?"

As an answer to his question, Ayame's picture of herself in her casual clothing appeared before she spoke up.

"Well, I picked Ayame for that one. She's had a tough break ever since she was born. She lost so many people that were close to her, but she never asked for that. If anyone deserved to go home, it's her."

This made Ayame look to her before she smiled back at her.

"Thanks, Jenny."

Just then, Bob went over to Ayame and asked her next.

"What about you, Ayame? Any takers?"

With that, Jenny's picture lit up on her monitor before she spoke.

"I chose Jenny, Bob. She's beginning to know the ugly side of life, and she's no stranger to that aspect before we met. And yet, she continued to keep smiling and fighting for what she believed in. I know she'd set a great example for the universe."

As Ayame said this, Jenny couldn't help but begin to shed tiny tears before wiping them as she spoke.

"Aw, c'mon, Ayame."

Up next was Lance as Bob went over to the alleged "dumb one".

"Lance, who got your vote?"

As Lance replied, Keith's picture popped up on his monitor.

"I voted for Keith. He's our leader, plus he's half-Galra, so I think he's, like, the future."

With five of them having voted but not one more than the others, Bob spoke to Keith.

"Keith, the leader, who do you think deserves to make it out of here, huh?"

As an unexpected answer, Lance popped up on his monitor before Bob spoke in surprise.

"Lance? Why Lance?"

"I just don't wanna be stuck here for eternity with Lance."

Hearing this, Lance became flattered before realizing the context of it before Bob moved on.

"Aw. Thanks, man. Wait, what?"

"We're down to our very last vote. Pidge, you're the Paladin that everyone says is the smartest, the most analytical, the most logical. Let's see who you voted for."

Finally, Hunk's picture popped up on her monitor before Bob became further flabbergasted.

"Hunk? Seriously?"

"Yeah. Hunk gets along with everybody. If anyone's gonna go out into the universe and bro g people together, it's Hunk."

With that, Hunk smiled at her before he spoke.

"Aw, thanks, Pidge."

As the two fist bumped, Bob spoke up about the results.

"No one voted for themselves. Everyone wanted someone else to get to leave and every single one of you got a vote."

This made Lance think the worst would come as he spoke.

"So I guess we all get fed to the Snick or something now, right?"

As an answer, Bob turned over to the Paladins before he made a menacing grin before reverting to a happy one.

"**You all get**... quiz-cenbullion credits! You win!"

This made the Paladins excited as Hunk became excited while Jenny hugged Lance and Pidge cheered while Ayame and Keith smiled. With the game over, Bob spoke one last time to the audience.

"That's our show, everybody. From all of us here at Garfle Warfle Snick, please have your klanmuirls spayed or neutered. Good night!"

* * *

Just then, Norlox spoke up on one more commercial as it showed an underwater planet that Lance and Hunk had been to before as it showed the tourists riding in seahorses, a Puigian holding a jellyfish in her hands, people at a hot spring water preserve, people watching the dancers perform, and Plaxim handing out her treats before showing Queen Luxia and her people in front of the castle as he spoke.

"Looking for a place the whole family can enjoy? Come on down to Luxia's Kingdom. Ride a seahorse. Feed Swirn's jellyfish. You can take a dip in our new volcanic hot springs, or see the hypnotic Octodancers perform while snacking on treats from Plaxum's bakery and lots more! Luxia's Kingdom, so safe and warm, you'll wanna stay forever."

* * *

With the commercial over, the screen suddenly turned off, leaving nothing but black.

In the lions, an alarm clock rang out before Hunk sat up in shock as he looked around before gasped and whispered before Sandra tried to calm him down.

"Okay, Hunk. Calm down. You're okay."

"Oh! Whoa. Oh. That was messed up. Hey, guys. I just kind of dozed off for a second and I had this crazy dream."

With that, Pidge seemed to know what it was before Hunk and Keith spoke up.

"Garfle Warfle Snick?"

"No way."

"You guys saw that, too?"

This made Jenny, Ayame, and Lance speak up in surprise.

"I thought I was the only one!"

"But how did we dream that at the exact same time?"

"So wait, does that mean Bob is real?"

With that, Coran spoke up beside Allura, making her, Cilia, Romelle, and Sapphire look to him before they spoke.

"Bob? Did you all just meet Bob?"

"Coran, you know him?"

"Who exactly is Bob?"

"Yeah, Uncle Coran. What is he?"

"I've never met him myself, but I've heard tales. He's an all-powerful, all-knowing inter dimensional being who judges the worthiness of great warriors."

With that, Lance began to think highly of his team before he spoke.

"Well, I bet he never met anyone worthier than us."

"The legends say that if you meet Bob and live to tell the tale, you're destined for great things indeed."

Despite this, Keith knew there was more to Bob than that as he spoke with Ayame, Hunk, Allura, Lance, and Pidge agreeing.

"The guy was kind of a jerk, though, right?"

"No contest."

"Uh, no joke."

"Completely."

"I'm not that dumb!"

"Tell it to my face."

In the White Lion, however, Jenny didn't respond that quickly as she remembered how goofy he was and she stuck her tongue out at his constellations while the Lions zipped by it.


	5. The Ruins

**Chapter 5: **The Ruins

As the Lions flew through the seemingly empty void of space, the Paladins, Rogue Thrust, Cilia, Sapphire, Romelle, and Xanthia were asleep in their rooms as Jenny moaned in her sleep as she slept in a blanket next to Lance before it showed Hunk snoring by himself as a bubble was going big and small with each snore he took before Keith suddenly shouted through the communicators.

"Everybody up!"

Immediately, Hunk woke up startled before groaning as he was still feeling drowsy while Pidge had difficulty waking up as she spoke to herself.

"No."

* * *

"Only a 99 on the test? But I did all the extra credit."

Just then, Keith spoke again, studying Pidge from her nightmare.

"Come on, it's time to wake up."

Instantly, Pidge opened her eyes as she exclaimed before realizing what she'd dreamed wasn't real before she spoke.

"What a nightmare."

* * *

Meanwhile, Lance was still lying in bed while Jenny was snuggled by her own as Allura slept with the mice around her, the both of them drowsy from Keith's wake-up call.

"What's the point? We're just floating in space. There's no day or night here."

"Yeah. How could we tell which is which our here? Maybe it's an everlasting night that gives us time to catch some Z's."

"I have to agree with Lance and Jenny. We should sleep for 15 more doboshes."

* * *

As for Romelle, she was sleeping while her head was dangling off the crates as her feet were on the wall while Cilia groggily woke up while brushing her auburn her back as Sapphire snuggled close to her while Coran used his fingers to straighten out his prickly mustache as Babak leaned on the wall, seemingly keeping vigil before he woke himself up and spoke to Romelle.

"Huh? Did you say something?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Lapis and Rogue Thrust were already awake. But instead of being drowsy, they were acting as though they were getting started for the day. Alas, Xanthia was not quite accustomed to this as she still slept before Adea looked to Lapis, not denying how tranquil she looked before looking to Lapis.

"Does she have to be awake?"

"Keith said everybody, Adea."

"Okay, fine."

With that, Adea gently shook Xanthia as she spoke in a whisper.

"Wake up, Xanthia. It's training time."

With that, Xanthia began to stir from her sleep exhaustedly as she moaned before she spoke.

"But I want to sleep..."

* * *

However, Keith, didn't feel it best in moments like this as he spoke with Sandra, Krolia, and Belle beside him.

"Guys, we can't let this long journey make us soft or dull our skills. Routine will keep us sharp."

Inside Pidge's room, Shiro was in agreement as he spoke up while Pidge stretched her arms.

"Ayame's right. Routine is what got me through being Zarkon's prisoner and being in the infinite void of the Black Lion."

This made Lance slightly impressed as he was still exhausted before he spoke.

"I guess that does make you an expert on killing time."

Inside the White Lion, Ayame was now walking into Jenny's room on one moment before dragging her on the floor on the other as she spoke to her.

"At this point, there's no telling what else could happen. This is the best way for us to prepare."

"Aw, can't that wait until after we're done sleeping?"

With that, Keith spoke up next as Krolia set up a battle sequence from the Black Lion.

"Okay everyone, to your stations. Running battle simulations now."

This made everyone grumble as Hunk spoke with a yawn.

"Can't we just have— can't we just have breakfast first?"

* * *

Later, once everyone was dressed up in their armor, Lance looked in front of him as Allura got her hair tied back before Pidge yawned with Shiro beside him, Lapis and Rogue Thrust looking determined as ever, Ayame keeping focus in front of her as Jenny was under threat of closing her eyes before she snapped herself awake. And finally, it showed Hunk in his seat as he grumbled before Krolia spoke to the Paladins.

"I programmed a new battle simulation."

With that, the monitors suddenly changed from outer space to a lava planet of sorts as Krolia spoke.

"I think it's going to be especially challenging."

This made Hunk and Lance particularly suspicious as Jenny spoke afterwards in reply while Ayame grew curious on what the simulation is based on.

"Why do you sound so happy about that?"

"Like mother, like son."

"Well, you can't really blame them, can you? Must be in the genes."

"So, what's the program about?"

"Here's the scenario: you're on a planet with double gravity, dense volcanic fog, and eight blovar raptors are attacking. What do you do?"

This made Keith smile while Belle and Krolia looked on with the former of the two a little scared by Keith's smile.

"This is a good one."

"How can you be happy that?"

Hunk, however, was not so much focused on the threat as much as food as he still didn't have breakfast yet.

"Do these raptors have eggs? I say we steal some and make a little breakfast."

The instant he said that, however, one of the blovar raptors lunged up and scared Hunk as he fell backward while Sandra spoke.

"A blovar raptor just melted tote face off, Hunk! You're out! That makes it eight on six."

Since he was hungry, Hunk was indifferent about failing the simulation as he spoke.

"That's fine by me. I'm eating."

As Hunk got up to eat, Allura and Lance were shooting at the raptors, they retaliated with blasts of their own while dodging the raptors and the lava geysers. As this happened, he tried to come up with a plan.

"Everyone split up to thin their numbers! If there was just some way we could..."

Before Keith could finish, he was suddenly cut off as blasted by a raptor, making him surprised as his alarm blared while Krolia spoke as Sandra smiled a bit.

"What?!"

"Keith, you're out."

"That was a surprise. How did you pass the other flight simulator back then?"

"That was a long time ago, Sandy. And you know that."

"Yeah, sure."

Meanwhile, Pidge came up with a plan of her own as she spoke before Lance, Lapis, and Jenny responded.

"Okay, I think I know what to do. This place has thick volcanic fog, right? That means the blovar must use some sort of thermal vision to see us."

"Maybe I can lure them away with my heat rays."

"And then, we'll do some target practice."

"I like this plan already."

With that, Lance shot out a heat ray to lure the blovars away before Lance, Pidge, and Allura spoke up.

"It's working!"

"Nice!"

"Let's get them while they're distracted."

As the lions closed in, however, a lava geyser erupted, prompting Ayame and Lapis to drive the lions away while Lance, Pidge, and Allura got caught in it, surprising them as Pidge spoke before Krolia replied.

"What happened?"

"You focused too much on the raptors and forgot about the volcano. You're out."

As they got close, Lapis and Ayame drew closer to the raptors whilst evading the lava geysers before the former turned to Adea and spoke.

"Adea, fire to the left on my signal."

"Okay."

Meanwhile, Ayame got her sights set on the raptors as soon as she knew there wasn't any unforeseeable danger as she clutched onto her handle while Jenny's hand got on that same handle as they spoke.

"Jenny, make sure you don't miss."

"I hear ya."

With that, as the White Lion prepared to fire, a blue beam was beginning to form in its mouth, only for the blovar to immediately notice before opening fire, urging Lapis to act on instinct as she shouted.

"Adea, now!"

With a push of a button, Adea caused the Violet Lion to fire a blast of purple Quintessence at the blovar's beam, intercepting it as the beam got cut off and led to an explosion of smokescreen before Ayame and Jenny thrusted the handle, allowing the White Lion to blast half of the blovars away. However, those that remained appeared to have vanished when Ayame and Jenny got through the smokescreen before the latter spoke.

"Did we get all of them?"

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as two of them blasted the White Lion from behind before the other two pelted the Violet Lion, finishing the simulation with the blovars' victory as Adea grumbled while Lance spoke.

"Oh, come on!"

"That fictional planet seems harsh."

"We were so close!"

Hearing Adea's grumbling, Krolia tried to make her feel better as she spoke to her.

"It's not your fault, Adea. I programmed the simulator to be unbeatable. I wanted to see how long you'd survive."

"Well, I hope you're happy."

* * *

Later, Hunk was chopping up an avocado before spreading out the green sauce on a tortilla and putting the slices of avocado on it before sprinkling a sort of powder on them and folding it into a burrito, which was then placed with other burritos before they were wrapped up in a blanket and placed around the wolf as Hunk spoke.

"Food incoming!"

As the wolf teleported with Sandra eating her own burrito that Hunk made, she spoke of her impression on Hunk's use for the wolf.

"You know, it's not a bad idea using him for delivery service."

"What can I say? He's such a good wolf... fella... guy. Gosh, we really gotta come up with a name for this wolf."

Keith was against that idea as he believed the wolf was its own person and spoke up on the communicator as it transported the food over to Sandra, Belle, and Krolia.

"Not gonna happen."

"Oh, come on! I vote Kosmo."

Just as the wolf popped up in the Blue Lion, Allura, Lance, and Pidge were in agreement as Cilia and Sapphire got their burritos and the wolf teleported to the Green Lion before the Red, White, and Violet Lions as Keith persisted in his decision, irking Hunk.

"I like Kosmo."

"Kosmo is cool."

"Yeah, it's nice."

"We're not calling him Kosmo."

"Oh, come on, Keith, we gotta call him something."

As the wolf popped up in the White Lion, Jenny and Ayame got their food before it popped over to the Violet Lion as Ayame spoke to Keith with Adea replying to his answer.

"How come you're against this, Keith?"

"I figure when he's ready, he'll tell me his name."

"So, it's Kosmo, then?"

As Adea said this, Lance took a bite from his burrito before he became overwhelmed by the deliciousness of it as he spoke.

"Oh! Hunk, this is delicious!"

"Yes, thank you, Lance. Yeah, I made it by collecting fungus paste from the dung of the beetles on that last planet we stopped at to pick up supplies."

As Hunk explained, it made Lance had at this before he interrupted him to speak again.

"Hunk, please! I don't wanna know what it is. I just wanna eat it and pretend that it's my meemaw's home cooking."

As Pidge reluctantly began to eat with that knowledge, she noticed a signal coming on from the Green Lion as it flared up before she spoke up.

"A signal!"

This made Cilia, Romelle, Sapphire, Babak, and Coran look to the monitor before Allura spoke up in surprise.

"How did you get a signal?"

"I've been running a passive scan, so I wouldn't give our location away looking for any signs of communications, and I just picked up something!"

This made Keith intrigued as he spoke up.

"Well, what is it?"

"I'm patching it through now."

As Pidge hooked up the signal, it didn't pan out quite as expected as it showed two sticklike aliens like Bii-Boh-Bi sitting on the couch in a sort of sitcom. As they spoke their own language, another sticklike figure arrived with a mullet came in and acted like a player as he pointed his stubs out as if he was pointing at them. When they began to converse, Allura was bummed out while Cilia, Sapphire, and Romelle watched with curiosity before Babak and Coran burst out laughing. In their time together, the one thing they had in common was that they enjoyed this particular sitcom. As they laughed, Cilia looked to Coran for an answer before he and Babak replied.

"What's so funny?"

"That bii-boh-bi sold the other's flizblaznator!"

"Ah, yes. These bii-boh-bi's are masters of comedy in their own right."

"So, it's a series programming, then?"

"Of course, Cilia. But comedy's not all it has."

"What else does it have, Babak?"

As an answer, one of the actors ended up infuriating the other with glasses, a bald head, and a ponytail before Coran laughed just as a blow was landed, making Romelle, Coran, Cilia, and Sapphire gasp at this before Babak spoke with an inhaling wince as the female actress knelt down, hoping to see if he was alright before she cried out in anguish for her fallen friend.

"It has drama, Cilia. Powerful drama."

However, Hunk was invested in something else as he piped up.

"Wait, wh— shush, shush, shush, shush. What's that noise?"

As the audience cheering was drowned out, Pidge found the actual signal and spoke up as she tried to identify it.

"It sounds like some interference. I'll try to tune it out."

However, recognizing that code, Lapis and Krolia piped up intermittently as they spoke before Lapis spoke the rest of the way.

"No, wait!"

"We know what that is. Luzria, can you amplify the signal?"

"I got it."

With that, Luzria amplified the signal, switching the programming to that of the signal as Coran and Sapphire moaned, much to Cilia's behest.

"Oh, I wanted to know what was going to happen."

"Me, too."

"I seriously don't think that show's for you."

As the signal played back, Lapis and her team along with Xarnas and Krolia closed their eyes before Pidge spoke up.

"Judging from the intermittent sound structure, it's just deep space interference. Most likely a radiation pulse from a nearby star."

At that moment, Xarnas spoke up to her.

"No, Green Paladin. That's just what it's supposed to sound like. The sounds in-between the pulses, however, have a unique pattern."

This made Ayame willing to listen as she closed her eyes before hearing a distinct beeping from it before opening her eyes as she spoke.

"He's right, guys."

"Of course I am. Before the Blades were unified, wed use this crude way of communicating with each other to avoid detection from Zarkon and Kaecilius alike. The only ones who know that are a senior member, like myself. Until, apparently, Lapis and Rogue Thrust studied it."

This made Atchiam look to Luzria as she spoke.

"Looks like your need to pester is with studying did us some good after all."

This made Luzria flustered before she spoke before Adea spoke up to Xarnas, who, in bringing up her mother's name, made Atchiam realize she'd been out of her life for three decaphoebes and became saddened.

"Hey! I love learning!"

"You think it might be Kolivan?"

"Possibly. Or it could be Vrathrea or Sneren."

"Mom...?"

As she saw this, Adea couldn't help but wonder about her own family as she looked to her blade in remembrance of who passed it down to her as she spoke before Xarnas continued.

"Daddy."

"Either way, neither one would be too happy to see me for my traitorous act to save Xanthia."

As Xarnas held his held down in shamefor his betrayal, Lapis looked to him and tried to comfort him as she spoke.

"You did all you could, Xarnas. You shouldn't beat yourself up."

At that moment, Shiro spoke up to Krolia about the signal.

"What does it say?"

"It's a distress signal. Whoever is sending it is in trouble."

As Pidge pulled out the schematics, she took notice of a nearby solar system as she, Shiro, Babak, and Hunk spoke up.

"It looks like it's coming from this sector."

"Do we know anything about that section of space?"

"Not without the Castle of Lions' research library core. We might as well be shooting in the dark."

"This is a pretty severe detour from Earth."

This made Atchiam desperate to see her mother as she shouted, surprising Adea as she fell out of her seat by her sudden outburst before Keith, Ayame, and Lapis were in agreement.

"We have to go! What if my mom's out there?!"

"Hey! You don't have to be so loud..."

"All feelings aside, if Kolivan or Vrathrea are there, then maybe there will be more Blades. We need all the help we can get to reach Earth."

"Keith's right. We're low on firepower as is. I'm not sure if we'll even reach Earth at all if we keep dragging them out like this."

"Then it's settled. We're going to that signal, and we're going to find out what's going on."

* * *

With that, the Lions traveled to the signal as Pidge and Luzria analyzed the schematics.

"The signal is coming from this planet. I'm detecting remnants of a civilization, but I don't see any signs of life."

"Same here. It's almost like it's... torn apart."

This made Romelle cautious as she spoke before Hunk replied.

"Is that a good or a bad sign."

"In all my space experience, there have never been any good signs."

Once the Lions landed on the deserted world, Pidge was using her gauntlet as the guide leading the Paladins, Sandra, Belle, Lapis, Rogue Thrust, Krolia, Romelle, and Xanthia while Sapphire and Cilia stayed with Babak in the Blue Lion as she spoke.

"I still can't tell exactly where the signal originates. I'll keep trying to triangulate its location."

As they continued their search, the group found naught but more ruins and scratches as Krolia and Xarnas spoke.

"The signs are all around us. There was a massacre here."

"Yes. But the question is, 'who won?'"

As Xarnas said this, Adea noticed Atchiam's worry on her face before she went over to her and spoke.

"It'll be okay. We'll find your mom. And my parents, and Kolivan, too. I know we will."

"Really? How?"

This made Adea hold her blade out as she spoke.

"_This _is how I know. This belonged to my dad before he gave it to me. It's almost like... like I could feel him in there. And that's good enough for me."

"Yeah, of course it's good enough for you. But what about _me_? _I _never had my blade as a hand-me-down; I had to _earn _it...! If I had my mom's blade, I'd know from that single shred of proof that she's alive, but I don't! And there is no proof! So you don't get to shove that in my face and tell me we'll find them when we don't even know what happened!"

Seeing her stress beginning to take form, Lapis stepped in as she walked to Atchiam.

"That's right. None of us know. But that shouldn't take away our hope that they're alive just because there's no proof. The way I see it, hope is pride. We fight for it, because we believe in it. Fighting, otherwise, would be pointless. Someone who sent the signal here is living proof of that. Besides... you're not the only one who wanted proof. My father, Zaltron, was one of the Blades, too."

This made Atchiam Sorry that she snapped the way she did as she spoke.

"I'm sorry. I guess I just... forgot."

"It's okay. I almost forgot that myself. It's been so long since I've seen him... to even think about what happened, it just—"

As tears threatened to come out of Lapis' face, she stopped herself before she spoke onwards.

"Point is, we have to operate on the admittedly slim chance that they're alive. Because otherwise, what's the point?"

As Lapis gave Atchiam food for thought, the latter took a sigh before she spoke, clinging to her hope that Vrathrea is still alive as she spoke.

"Okay."

At that moment, Allura surveyed the damage on the terrain, noticing a streak of blood on the wall glowing purple as she spoke.

"Some of this damage looks like it's from magic."

This made Lapis widen her eyes, knowing about a certain group of Galra that used magic and warrant an investigation.

"Magic? Let me see."

As Lapis looked at the damage, she saw glowing purple residue on the streak before touching it, feeling its power flow into her as she suddenly had a whiplash of a memory, witnessing Varek's wrathful temper as he slashed countless Blades with his Quintessential scythe before lunging at one and slashing it at a blade, splattering the blood on the rock with a residue of Varek's scythe as Lapis moaned in pain before Adea and Xarnas piped up.

"Lapis!"

"Are you alright?"

As she took her breath, she tried her best to answer before Ayame spoke.

"I think so... I don't know how, but... I just saw something terrible."

"Like what?"

"I saw Varek. The blood on that wall, it must've belonged to a Blade that Varek cut down to size."

This made Shiro cautious as he spoke.

"Everyone stay alert."

What none of them noticed in that moment, was that someone was watching from in one of the wrecked buildings before Kosmo looked to a direction he was in before Lapis turned with him, finding no one there as she had a look of suspicion.

"I'll keep that in mind, Shiro."

* * *

Later, as the Paladins walked along, Krolia took notice of the strikes on the wall with dark purple blood streaked along with it before she spoke to Keith .

"These strike patterns look Marmoran."

"Keep looking. We need to find whatever Blade is broadcasting that signal."

Just then, Kosmo began to growl as it picked up the scent of a stranger before Keith turned to it.

"What is it?"

Immediately, Kosmo took off towards the scent before leaping on the ruins and jumping into the air before tackling a stranger to the ground as it sharper before the group caught up and readied their weapons as Keith and Lapis spoke.

"Good job."

"Who are you? Who's broadcasting that signal?"

This made the stranger give a weak reply as he spoke.

"It was me."

This made Atchiam infuriated as she spoke.

"That's impossible. You're no Blade of Marmora, let alone a senior member! You captured one of them, didn't you?! Where's my mother?!"

This made Lapis turn to her as she spoke.

"Stand down, Atchiam. Remember what we talked about."

With that, the stranger proceeded to explain as he spoke, further adding fuel to Atchiam's fiery suspicion.

"I will explain all if you would put your weapons."

"Yeah, right. He'll just kill us all first chance he gets. Right, Krolia?"

For a moment, there was silence before she responded.

"Let's see what he has to say."

""Are you serious?! You're really buying that?!"

This made Lapis take action again as she spoke, making her shocked to hear her raise her voice.

"Atchiam! I can't say I believe him either, but what good would killing him do? Maybe he knows something we don't."

This made Atchiam tense her robotic arms before she released them trying her best to keep calm. With that, she turned to the stranger before she spoke.

"Alright. But give me one reason to think you're lying, and you're a dead man."

* * *

Meanwhile, in a cave, the stranger was putting firewood on the fireplace as Romelle and Adea looked around the hideout littered with liquid barrels and a bag of water hanging above as the latter spoke.

"This is your hideout?"

"This place is disgusting."

"I have called this place home for the last two decaphoebes."

This made Romelle embarrassed as she tried make a good save.

"Oh, well, disgusting is Altean for 'lovely.' You don't speak Altean, do you?"

This made Luzria give a frown to her as she spoke.

"I do. And that is not Altean for 'lovely.' But I'm sure he'd agree with you. He's been through a lot."

At that moment, she heard a ping on her gauntlet before responding to it as she and Pidge spoke while analyzing the signal's location.

"Hold on. This is where the signal was coming from. Somewhere below us."

"She's right. I'm picking that up, too."

This made the stranger speak up to Luzria, impressed with her skills.

"You are clever. But I wouldn't expect less from Rogue Thrust, or the Paladins of Voltron for that matter."

This made Jenny cautious as she spoke to him.

"Wait. So, you knew about us?"

"Of course, of course. Though, I am surprised to see you. All were certain you perished."

"Yeah, it wasn't exactly a great welcome basket. But at least we're back."

"And I'm so grateful that you are. It's been so long since I've had... guests."

At that moment, Belle took her turn to speak up as she walked to him.

"Well, as much as we appreciate your hospitality, there's a lot we don't know. Like who are you, and what happened here?"

As he replied, Atchian and Krolia were looking at the drapes before walking towards it

"Bloodshed happened here. Death happened here. _Horror _happened here."

"Horror? What do you mean?"

"I am Macidus. This is my home planet. But now, I am the only one left alive here."

Once they pulled back the drapes, they noticed countless Blades stuck on the wall before Krolia and Atchiam gasped in horror before the latter instantly got angrier from noticing her mother's blade, one shaped like a broadsword, before she got her blade out and pointed it at his throat as she snarled.

"What are you doing with those Blades?!"

As the group gasped at the revelation, Macidus explained the reasoning for their being stuck on the wall as he spoke, not moving an inch.

"I hang them in honor of their sacrifice. They died trying to protect the universe."

Hearing that from his mouth, Atchiam got her fist out and aimed to punch him in the chest as she yelled out with tears streaming down her face the instant he finished his second sentence before she struck him and knocked him to a wall before getting her sword out to impale him as she shouted.

"YOU LIAR! MY MOM CAN'T BE DEAD! SHE CAN'T BE!"

When Atchiam tried to attack him, Lapis interferes with a strike from her Luxite Broadsword, knocking it out of her hand before Lapis was forced to stand in between them as she shouted.

"LAPIS, GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

"Calm down, Atchiam! It's not like _he_ killed her! He must've done everything he could to save her. Right?"

As Lapis looked behind her for validation, Macidus replied justly as he spoke.

"Yes. I did try, with all the strength I had. But she told me she never needed my help, or anyone else's."

Hearing this, Atchiam widened her eyes, her tears beginning to burst into a tranquil waterfall before she put her sword away as she sniffled while sobbing before she spoke.

"Mom never did like help from others, not when she thought she could handle it..."

As Atchiam took the time to sob as Lapis hugged her to give her comfort as a friend, Xarnas looked to Macidus as he spoke.

"You said before that horror happened here. Are you referring to the massacre we saw?"

"Yes. This all started when Voltron and Rogue Thrust disappeared, when— when you disappeared. After the Kral Zera ended in ultimate disaster with the officials slain and killed, the power vacuum that ensued destabilized much of the universe. Galra turned on each other. Warlords and pirates became the rulers of the land."

Knowing from Zethrid who was responsible, Ayame began to ask about her as she spoke.

"And what about Haggar? What happened to her?"

"No one knows. But without her, a new leader seized power, one who was now pure Galra. He now calls himself... Emperor Komar. As Emperor, he permitted the pirates to conquer as they please, so long as they bowed before him."

This made her growl, remembering how Komar used her to get revenge on the Galaxy Garrison, and how much he hurt her friends as she spoke, trying to contain that fury herself.

"What else happened?"

"Sometime after the first decaphoebe of his rule, Komar unveiled new super soldiers that can alter their Quintessence to fashion any weapon of choice. He called them 'super soldiers.' With Varek and Vantiv at the helm, they set out to destroy every blade along with the Druids that carried out Haggar's final orders."

This made Pisge widen her eyes in surprise as she spoke, figuring out how the Blades were so easily dispatched.

"After Loror took over the throne, almost every Marmoran agent was exposed."

With that, Macidus spoke to Atchiam next.

"And that's when the slaughter began. All Blades were called away from their assignments and sent to this base. Even the Blades' high council was called to action. Kolivan knew they were being hunted down and he wanted to make a stand against them, as did your mother. They believed it was their only means of survival."

As they looked around, Lapis recalled the base that was abandoned as she spoke.

"That explains that abandoned base we found on our way here."

"Indeed. When they arrived here, my people helped them fortify their base, but Komar's super soldiers and the Druids found us sooner than we hoped. They arrived without warning."

As Macidus spoke onwards, Lapis was holding onto her head as she moshed again, beginning to feel the rest of the memories embedded from that drop of quintessence tainted with Varek's quintessential blade as she saw Varek and Vantiv blocking the base with black and purple lightning as the blades and the evacuating citizens were slaughtered by Varek's scythe and Vantiv's quintessential claw.

"The Druids encircled the base and besieged it with magic while the super soldiers used a more... offensive approach. After a long battle of attrition, the base fell. Casualties on both sides were enormous. My people were the first to try to escape. They were slaughtered."

Next, Lapis saw Kolivan, Vrathrea, Sneren, Zaltron, Gen, and Ral on a cliff before it showed Ral cutting down a Druid just as Varek and Vantiv blasted black and purple lightning on both sides, taking several Blades while piercing through Gen's shoulder, earning her scream as Macidus spoke onwards.

"I stayed behind with Kolivan and the high council, as well as two lower class warriors. They led those of us that remained to battle the super soldiers. But for each one we managed to take down, nearly a hundred Blades would fall, or at the very least become gravely injured. In the final battle, I was buried beneath a collapsed structure. When I regained consciousness, the fight was over and I was the lone survivor. I've been sending the signal Kolivan gave me ever since in the hopes I finding any remaining blades."

This made Lapis take a sigh of remembrance towards the fallen blades on the wall for what occurred before she spoke.

"As you can see, there's a few of us left."

"Good."

As Atchiam looked over to the wall, she took her mother's blade from the wall and looked at it closely as her tears streamed down her face again, her hand shaking it as she began to speak, her voice threatening to falter.

"My mom always told me... that being a Blade isn't a right. It was a privilege. And I had to earn that... I-I should've been here...! It's my fault she's gone...!"

As Atchiam began to sob on the blade, Lapis felt bad for her as Ayame, Keith, and Lapis stepped over to her before they spoke.

"I'm so sorry, Atchiam. I really am."

"Your mother's service will never be forgotten."

"But don't worry. Komar and his men will _pay_ for what they've done."

Just then, Atchiam felt a warm glow on the sword before she gasped in surprise, brushing her tears away to be sure she wasn't being tricked before seeing the purple glow fade away as she spoke.

"Huh? My mom's blade... it's flickering."

Hearing this, Adea became surprised as she spoke in relief.

"It is? So she's okay!"

In confusion, Ayame spoke to her on that subject before Krolia explained.

"How do you know?"

"A Marmoran agent's life force, even that of the high council, is connected to their blade. And Atchiam just saw it glow."

"I did...? Then, that means... my mom's still alive!"

As Atchiam began to smile at this, the group heard Macidus take a darker tone as he spoke.

"Just barely."

With that, Macidus stood up as he turned to Keith and spoke, confusing him.

"Your hand is looking much better."

"My hand?"

"You don't remember our fight?"

As he said this, Keith recalled when he fought a Druid below the Kral Zera before he ended up having his hand broken as he screamed before hitting the pillar. As the memory ended with Adea getting her Luxite sword and charging at him, Keith drew his abused at him as he spoke.

"Atchiam was right. You've been using that signal to draw Blades in!"

As the Paladins and the Blades responded by pointing their weapons at Macidus, Atchiam spoke up to him.

"What have you done to my mother?! Tell me, you quiznakking murderer!"

As an answer, he only gave a menacing laugh before he spoke.

"The high council proved to be useful after all..."

With that, Macidus teleported out of the room, leaving behind a small stasis bomb as it began to fall with everything in slow motion before it hit the ground and started to split in half as Krolia shouted.

"No!"

A moment after, the bomb created a purple shield around it before Kosmo teleported to Keith, Ayame, and Lapis and teleported then out just as the bomb's barrier ensnared the rest of the Paladins inside it, trapping them in a pause as they stood still.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kosmo, Keith, Ayame, and Lapis arrived in another section of the cave before Keith noticed they weren't trapped as he pet Kosmo for saving them as he smiled before Keith looked to the direction in front of him before he spoke as Lapis replied, making Ayame concerned once she explained what the bomb was.

"Where are we?"

"I don't know. But anywhere's better than back there. That was a stasis bomb back there. It's got our friends trapped."

"Can't we help them?"

"Don't worry, Ayame. We will."

Just then, the trio and Kosmo heard a teleportation zap and a purple glow before they made a break for cover as Macidus walked by himself in the cave while dragging his blade on the wall, slicing it as he walked before walking on the bridge, unaware that Keith, Kosmo, Ayame, and Lapis were hidden under it. At least it appeared that way until Macidus stopped on the bridge and looked around for any noises as the group were anxiously waiting. However, as soon as the bottle rolled away from afar, Macidus prepared an arc of purple lightning as he shouted while firing it at the barrel, the dust ensuing from the impact. However, all he found were countless tiny creatures that ran away afterwards. As his search seemed to lead to a dead end, Macidus proceeded forward, leaving Keith and the others to believe he'd truly gone away. Alas, they were wrong as when Keith turned, his blade suddenly stabbed through the bridge in between them, catching them by surprise as he prepared to strike his lightning on the bridge, only for Kosmo to teleport the three of them away, and itself along with them just as Macidus' blast connected. When they ran, they saw Macidus pop up just in front of them before turning back, only to see Macidus director in front of them before Lapis shouted while slicing her Luxite sword on his mask, severing it to reveal his yellow eyes and tattoos identical to a mechanical mainframe as he laughed menacingly before teleporting to another section of the pass as the four that avoided capture noticed him before Macidus spoke.

"There is no escape but death!"

With that, he roared as Macidus prepared to cut them down before Lapis blocked him and attempted to punch him, only for him to teleport behind her, forcing her to use her instinct to dodge while turning to face him as she, Keith, and Ayame backed up, forcing them to dodge his strikes before Keith summoned his own luxite blade to hold his weapon back, allowing Kosmo the opportunity to attack as it growled before leaping at him, only for him to vanish quickly. With Macidus gone for the time being, the group pressed forwards to find their friends and a way out of this madness.

* * *

Meanwhile, those that were trapped remained inside the stasis shield before Allura and Jenny's hands began to somehow take in the essence that surrounded them as their hands glowed purple.

Not far away, Keith, Kosmo, Ayame, and Lapis encountered a fork in the road as they saw two pathways in front of them before Ayame spoke.

"Looks like we'll have to split up."

Just then, Macidus appeared behind them, getting the group's attention as Keith and Kosmo took the right path while Lapis and Ayame took the left. As they ran, Macidus gave chase to Keith and Kosmo first as they teleported before he followed suit just as they reappeared beside Lapis and Ayame. Shortly after, Macidus reappeared in the air to do away with them, only for them to teleport away, infuriating Macidus as he teleported in pursuit of them. When the group popped up again, they found themselves on a damp cave with wires on the ceiling dripping wet while seeing crates that were wet. When they heard groaning behind them, they noticed Kolivan hanging on the light fixture while Vrathrea, Sneren, Gen, Zaltron, and Ral were hanged in a crucified position around Kolivan, although they were still alive, however barely. Seeing them in their squalid state, Lapis was almost driven to tears over what happened to them as she choked her sob while Ayame and Keith became surprised as they spoke.

"Kolivan. Vrathrea. Everyone..."

"We'll get you out of here."

However, before they could try, they heard the devil's laughter as he reappeared, standing in front of them before Lapis glared daggers at him. If looks could kill, he would've been a dead man, and no amount of teleportation could've saved him from it.

"You... how could you do this!?"

"Our high priestess, Haggar, forsaken us because of your treachery against Lotor. But after I kill you and the other Paladins, Haggar will allow me to return."

This made Lapis give a more angry face towards him as she shouted.

"That's your reason?! THAT'S what this is all about!? Because you can't do anything on your own without her?! How do you even know if she even gives a quiznak about you?!"

As expected, it infuriated Macidus as he retorted.

"I've heard enough!"

At that moment, Keith teleported with Kosmo's help to attack Macidus, only for him to teleport to counter with his own teleportation and his sword just before Kosmo leaped on him, causing the two to vanish before reappearing as he tossed Kosmo away to a structure of the cave before Keith lunged at him just before he missed as Macidus teleported and prepared to strike him with his lightning, only for Ayame to swipe him away with her naginata before he teleported just behind them and retaliated with his unfinished lightning attack before he grinned as they took a massive hit.

* * *

Meanwhile, just above them, Allura and Jenny were pulling the barrier to them, shrinking it down as the dark purple matter was being turned blue in their hands as they groaned. When the barrier was completely dissipated into them, the both of them fell to the ground, exhausted from what they had to take in as they panted before Pidge and Lance spoke.

"Guys, are you okay?"

"Yeah. What happened?"

As an answer, Jenny responded first despite breathing heavily just before Allura.

"Honestly... I don't know any more... than you do."

"Pidge, lock on to Keith's location!"

As Pidge did just that, she found a surprising answer as to where they are as she spoke.

"He's directly below us! Ayame and Lapis, too!"

Upon hearing confirmation on where they were, Allura began to stand up as Jenny still struggled before she held her hand out to her, to which Jenny accepted the lift and stood up with her help as Allura spoke.

"Stand back!"

Immediately, Jenny felt her hand being pulled with hers to strike the ground, making her surprised and worried as she spoke.

"Allura, What are we do—!?"

Before she could finish, Allura and Jenny's hands struck the ground, causing blue light to leak on the cracks of the ground.

* * *

Meanwhile, Keith, Ayame, and Lapis engaged Macidus in combat as he engaged the first of the three first before teleporting and kicking him away to teleport again to kick him to the wall before Ayame rushed at him to attack him, only for Macidus to take the naginata and swing her at Lapis before firing lightning at Kosmo. At that moment, however, a purple light came from below and shattered the ground, allowing Allura, Jenny, and the others to fall down as Macidus spoke in surprise, to which Jenny and Xarnas responded.

"How?"

"Honestly, I'm just as much at a loss as you are."

"One can never underestimate the benefits of magic, Macidus. As you of all people should know."

At that moment, Atchiam and Adea took notice of their parents hanging beside Kolivan as they spoke out of pure terror while their parents moaned while giving laborer breaths.

"Mom!"

"Daddy! Mommy!"

Seeing their panicked state, Macidus grunted as he laughed before he spoke.

"You two seem to know them very well. I'm going to enjoy making your family watch your end. And then, the others will join you."

This infuriated Atchiam as she summoned her luxite blade before she spoke with fury in her voice.

"Bringing our parents into this? Big mistake!"

In response to her threat, Macidus teleported away before reappearing begins them, urging Hunk to shoot at him before Macidus teleported to avoid the blasts. Almost immediately, he reappeared to blast Hunk away with his lightning just as Pidge tried to counter with her bayard before teleporting bear Lance to toss him aside before vanishing and reappearing to kick Pidge away. In retaliation, Sandra tried to attack with her luxite Katana, only for Macidus to vanish before giving her a full nelson and flipping her to the wall behind him as he teleported while Sandra coincidentally collided Adea and Luzria before Atchiam ran at the reappearing Macidus to punch him to the ground as she shouted.

"This is for my mother!"

When she tried to attack, however, Atchiam missed as he teleported away again before reappearing by her side and blasting his lightning on her face at point blank range as she exclaimed before Allura got out her bayard and tried to strike him with her whip before he vanished and reappeared behind her, just to electrocute her on the back as she screamed before passing out from the voltage in her back. As Macidus snarled, Lapis looked at the carnage he wrought and widened her eyes as she shouted at him.

"YOU BASTARD!"

As Lapis attempted to strike him down, he teleported before she anticipated his attack from behind and viciously engaged in a flurry of attacks as Lapis underwent several slashed on her armor, tearing most of it off as her arms and legs were bare while her chest was becoming bare to be seen at the top as Macidus himself began to slash at random to throw off Lapis, not that it worked. Finally, he used a blast of lightning on her to completely shed her of the armor she once had, leaving her top bare, save for a black cloth wrapped around her chest as she coughed from the blast before Macidus spoke, making her scowl at him.

"A persistent fighter, I see. Not even death frightens you. You truly are Zaltron's daughter."

"Of course I am, Macidus. There's nothing you can do to me that will make me surrender."

"Hmm... of course not. That's what your friends are for."

Immediately, Macidus vanished, making Lapis worried as she looked around before shouting to Keith and Ayame. But it wasn't to run away. Given their Galra heritage, they'd never give up. Heck, if she was in their position, she wouldn't either. It was the least she could do with her multiple lacerations and bruises.

"Keep an eye out for Macidus! He'll strike when you least expect it!"

As they nodded, Ayame closed her eyes and listened for Macidus' menacing laughter as traces of him were in the void. Once the laughter got closer, Ayame instantly opened her eyes and held her hands out where Macidus would pop up, causing black mists to imprison him like chains before she held him down as Macidus tried to vanish, but found himself unable to as he spoke.

"Impossible...!"

Knowing she got him dead to rights, Ayame shouted to Keith.

"Now!"

In that moment, Keith threw his blade at Macidus before it impaled him in the chest, causing a dark purple substance to leak from it before he groaned just as the lightning began to consume him as he screamed before his luxite blade fell to the ground. With the attacker finally gone, Keith and Ayame panted as the group caught their breath with Lance and Hunk speaking.

"Good job, Keith."

"Yeah. I thought this was gonna end with my face melted off, like in that simulator."

As Hunk groaned, Keith looked to see Lapis in multiple cuts, with one on the right side of her face, two on her arms, one just above her chest, and a bruise that was burned on her her abdomen as she groaned before Adea, Atchiam, and Luzria went over to her quickly as they spoke.

"Lapis!"

"Holy quiznak! That's a lot of cuts."

"Are you okay?"

"I will be... it's them I'm worried about."

While Lapis pointed to those trapped by Macidus, her team looked over to them, as did the rest of the group before Xarnas spoke.

"Regardless, they'll need help to recover. That goes for you as well, Lapis."

"Yeah. I might... need it..."

With that, Lapis closed her eyes as she moaned to get the rest she long deserved after all that she'd gone through today.

* * *

Later, as Lapis was wrapped in makeshift bandages from the drapes, Gen, Ral, Zaltron, Vrathrea, Kolivan, And Sneren were given refreshments that were in the cave to recover as Pidge spoke on their conditions before Luzria spoke about Lapis' as she was laid down with her taking labored breaths.

"They're in pretty bad shape, but it looks like they're gonna be okay."

"Which is more than I can say for Lapis. Those cuts and blasts on her weren't just deep... they're almost fatal."

This made Adea worried as she squeaked in worry.

"You mean... she's gonna die?"

"No. I said _almost _fatal. But still, she might die if we don't get her help."

Hearing this, Kolivan felt he was to blame for what happened to her as he spoke.

"I... I'm sorry my code lured you here."

Knowing what Macidus had done to the high council himself, Keith didn't fault him as he spoke.

"There was nothing you could do. The coordinates I gave you, the Altean colony, were you able to find it?"

"I sent a team. There was nothing there. Just an empty facility. They were all gone."

This made Xanthia widen her eyes before speaking to him, hoping to find answers as she spoke.

"Are you sure? What about the other colony? The Alteans that were harvested?"

"They were gone, too. Just empty tubes."

Hearing of this, Xanthia began to assume the worst, that they must've been disposed of once they outlived their usefulness as she began to shed tears for them before Adea walked over to her and hugged her from behind.

"I'm so sorry, Xanthia. If only we came back sooner..."

As Krolia looked at the blades on the wall, she began to feel saddened as she spoke.

"I recognize every one of these Blades. I trained many of them myself. And Macidus killed them all... but, judging from the Blades that Macidus collected, he may have delivered a critical blow to the Marmora, but he did not defeat us entirely."

At that moment, Ral began to cough to clear his throat, as well as get it out of his chest as he spoke.

"If there are others out there, then we have to find them. With Komar in power, the universe needs us now more than ever."

This made Krolia look to Lapis and her team before the high council, Gen, and Ral before she spoke.

"I will join you. We will revive the Blade of Marmora together. We'll just need a ship."

Fortunately, Sneren knew where to find it as he and Vrathrea spoke.

"The Druid had a cruiser stored not far from here. Odds are, we can use it to reunite the Blades."

"And to restore Lapis to health. Her fight with Macidus took a great toll on her for our sakes. But we still need her."

This made Krolia smile, knowing Lapis and the Blades would recover as she spoke.

"That's our first bit of luck in a long time."

As Krolia soothed Kolivan, who closed his eyes, she spoke softly to him.

"Rest."

After Kolivan closed his eyes, Krolia stood up and walked out before speaking to Keith and Sandra.

"Keith, Sandra. I... I'm sorry to have to say goodbye to you for a second time."

Knowing what she had to do, Keith and Sandra understood why and were willing to let her go as he spoke while handing her his luxite blade before Sandra spoke.

"It's not goodbye. Take this. You can return it when we see each other again."

"And we will."

This made Krolia smile at them before she hugged the two children as Sandra spoke with the onset of tears in her eyes.

"Thanks for everything you taught us, Mom."

At that moment, Belle spoke up to the two about their trip back as she placed her hand on Sandra's shoulder.

"Guys. It's time to get going."

As they nodded, Krolia smiled to them again before speaking to her children as he spoke back to her.

"I love you, Keith, Sandra."

"We love you, too, Mom."

* * *

Outside the cave, as the Paladins said their goodbyes with Rogue Thrust, Xanthia, and Xarnas staying with Krolia, Kolivan, Gen, Ral, and Sneren, with Lapis being held by Luzria and Atchiam, Ayame looked over to Krolia before she gave a smile as she spoke.

"Don't worry, Krolia. Your son is in good hands."

This earned Krolia's smile of her own as she replied back to her.

"I know."

In the end, Rogue Thrust, along with Xarnas and Xanthia, as she was more comfortable with Adea, decided to go along with Krolia to reunite the Blades and to help Lapis recover as the Lions made for Earth again, abandoning the ruined planet that could've been their tomb as Adea, Gen, Ral, Luzria, Xanthia, Krolia, and Atchiam looked out from the cruiser, waving goodbye to them as she spoke.

"Good luck! I hope you get back to Earth safe!"

After having said her goodbyes, Gen smiled before holding her hand out to Adea and walking with her in the halls, knowing they'll see each other again as Luzria looked to Krolia.

"Are you sure you couldn't go with them? Keith is your son."

"He is. That's why I let him go. Because there's nothing my son can't face, especially since he has his own team with him."

As Luzria looked out the cruiser again, she gave a small smile as she spoke.

"You know? I think you're right."


	6. The Journey Within

**Chapter 6: **The Journey Within

As the lions traveled further in deep space, the Paladins were no closer to Earth than when they started, or at the very least, it appeared that way. And with the Violet Lion going with the Blades to find the others, they were one Lion short of the voyage back home. As things began to get dull in the void of space, Shiro spoke to Pidge about another frequency they could try to locate any planet at all. This far out in space, it was like they're the only ones left in the universe.

"Maybe if we run this configuration."

Unfortunately, Pidge didn't find any signal out there and spoke to Allura for better luck.

"Still nothing. Allura, try the sonic wave."

"Okay, I'll try."

When Allura tried to use it, however, the Blue Lion only stopped short of delivering the blast as it was still low on power as she spoke to Pidge.

"It's still not working. And it probably won't work again until our power cores are recharged."

"Roger that. Well, our long-range scanners still haven't detected any planets nearby. No star systems, nothing."

This made Lance very exhausted from the journey that seemed to have lasted another three decaphoebes as he groaned before he inquired the general question in this situation, to which Romelle replied.

"How long have we been out here?"

"Going on four movements."

"And how long is it gonna take us to get to Earth at this speed?"

"I think Pidge said something about ten billion decaphoebes."

This made Lance widen his eyes in frustration before Pidge corrected her.

"I said one and a half Earth years."

As Romelle made an embarrassed smile from this, Sandra felt it was a little off-putting as she spoke up.

"Wait. That's a huge difference between ten billion decaphoebes and one and a half Earth years. Which one is it?"

This immediately made Pidge snap like a twig as she shouted.

"It's one and a half Earth years! We've gone over this several times, though there may be a margin of error about a month, depending on any time dilation we encounter."

At that moment, Shiro spoke up to help settle things down to prevent future outbursts as best he could with Keith chiming in as leader.

"Look, we knew this wasn't going to be an easy or quick voyage, but replacing the Castle of Lions is our top priority."

"We just have to stay sharp and maintain discipline. We knew when we started this journey that we'd be low on power. We didn't plan o going through the galactic void, but we'll get through it."

This made Jenny a little doubtful as she spoke up.

"How do you know that? We haven't seen any planet in four movements. What if we never get home?"

Hearing the fear in Jenny's voice, Lance knew she was getting scared. Frankly, so was he. In spite of this, though, he tried to think of a way to help her feel better as he spoke up.

"Don't worry, guys. We'll run into something eventually that will turn this trip around."

This made Hunk doubtful as he and Ayame spoke up.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Yeah. Isn't it called the galactic void for a reason?"

"If my experience in space has taught me anything, it's that something _always _comes along to try to kill us."

This made Jenny blanch her face before she spoke up.

"And how's that supposed to make us feel better? We're low on power as it is. What if it _does _kill us?"

As her words reached Lance's ears, it made him blanch next, realizing the bad side of it as he spoke up.

"Oh. Didn't think of that."

* * *

Later, the Paladins suddenly found themselves in the darkness of space as Lance spoke up to Pidge.

"Hey, Pidge, why is it so dark out here?"

"I can't be sure, but my theory is that this area is surrounded by some kind of nebula that blocks most of the light."

"Oh, yeah. Must be a patch of that dark matter I've heard about."

This made Pidge correct him before Hunk spoke up, trying to lighten the mood.

"That isn't what dark matter is."

"Although, when it's this dark, I guess it doesn't matter, right, guys?"

This only earned a groan from Pidge before Jenny grew very annoyed at that pun.

"No. Just— no."

"This is why no one rides with me anymore, isn't it?"

Just then, Shiro came up with an idea on how to jumpstart the lions, piquing Belle's curiosity and Lance's frustration.

"Guys, I think I might have an idea on how to get the lions back to full power."

"Really?"

"And you're just now telling us this?"

"Well, I'm sorry, Lance, it I guess having my consciousness transplanted from the infinity of Voltron's inner Quintessence into the dead body of an evil clone of myself has left me a little out of sorts for the past few weeks."

Hearing these examples, Lance began to realize he should've kept those frustrations to himself as he blanched his face before spoke, understanding what's happened to him as he saw Shiro in Voltron at Olkarion.

"Oh. Yeah."

With that out of the way, Belle was eager to know what the plan was as she spoke.

"What is it, Shiro?"

"It's difficult to articulate, but remember when we were fighting Zarkon, and we were hit with that beam that drained all of our Quintessence?"

Upon remembering this memory, Allura spoke up next as Sapphire cuddled next to her mother as Shiro and Keith responded to her.

"Yes, you were all completely incapacitated."

"That's right, but we managed to regenerate enough power to keep fighting."

"Yeah. We repowered Voltron ourselves."

"Exactly. And I think that's how it's meant to work. Since I... disappeared, you've been relying on the Castle's crystal to keep the Lions charged. But if you were a team of fully-realized Paladins, you wouldn't need that."

As Shiro said this, Allura began to feel herself responsible for it as she always felt the crystal was the only necessary way. The fact that she didn't recognize it before now was evidence enough for her. And if not that, then her lack of experience of any Lion back then would be it as she wasn't quite bonded with the Lion as the others were.

"I... I can't help but feel this must be my fault. You were able to recharge Voltron before, but since I joined..."

"It's no one's fault. Being a Paladin of Voltron takes training. You just haven't had time to focus on working together to find your balance in this configuration."

Hearing this theory, Jenny began to see a glimmer of light from the black void they're trapped in as she spoke up before Lance.

"Well, we've got nothing but time now. Maybe we can try that. And... maybe, I'll try to reconnect with the White Lion, try to make up for what I did on Planet X somehow..."

"That's right. We've been down before, and we always come back."

Taking note of Shiro's theory, Keith felt relieved that he was there to tell this to them as he spoke.

"I'm glad you're here, Shiro. After all you went through, how did you find the strength to be the leader of Voltron?"

"I had help. And it's not just from Lapis. That's why there are seven of you, to lift each other up."

As Shiro said this, Keith couldn't help but smile as he spoke, trying to think of what to do to be connected with Voltron.

"So, what should we do? Maybe some flight formation exercises?"

At that moment, Pidge saw something in front of her as she spoke before Keith.

"What's that?"

"You know, when you line up and..."

"No, no, no! That! Dead ahead!"

As Keith looked in front of him, he took notice of the void becoming less black as countless lights lit up in the void before Pidge spoke.

"My scanners aren't picking anything up!"

When one of the lights lit up near the Paladins, a lightning bolt struck before it then turned into a burst of white light that blew the lions back as Lance and Jenny shouted.

"What the quiznak is this?!"

"That's what I like to know!"

As the group grunted, Keith spoke up about what to do to get out of the sudden burst.

"Whatever it is, we got to move!"

As the Paladins sped up in the burst, they ended up hitting small white orbs that jolted them with electricity as Keith grunted before he spoke up.

"Break high!"

As the lions flew up high, they seemed to have avoided the blast as the environment was black again. Hoping it was the end, Jenny spoke up through the communicator.

"Is it over...?"

However, much to Jenny's dismay, it wasn't as another burst appeared, making the Paladins exclaim before it was finally over. But as a consequence, the lions were completely drained of power as their eyes no longer glowed yellow before Keith stirred awake as he tried to check on the others with Pidge responding before Lance, Jenny, Ayame, Hunk, and Allura.

"Is everyone alright?"

"I'm here."

"Still alive."

"Ditto."

"What was that?"

"That was crazy."

"I'm fine."

When she looked behind her, she noticed Coran in a sort of pause with his mouth and eyes wide open before she saw Cilia holding her daughter in her arms while floating in a pause as Babak was standing in front of them while Keith looked behind him to see Kosmo and Belle frozen as the wolf was paused in a growling state while she was in a pose that appeared to be blocking out the light from the burst with her prosthetic arm over her eyes before Keith spoke to them to check.

"Hey, are you okay, guys?"

When Pidge checked with Shiro in the Green Lion, the result was the same: no movements from the position he appeared to be frozen stiff in.

"Shiro, can you hear me?"

As Pidge analyzed him to know for sure, she found a sort of relief in what she found out before Keith, Lance, and Allura spoke up.

"Shiro seems to be frozen, but his vitals are strong."

"Same here."

"Copy that with Romelle. What's going on?"

"Coran And the others are frozen as well. Our Paladin armor must have protected us from the shock. The Blue Lion is completely incapacitated."

"Yeah, Red is out too."

This made Hunk nervous as Sandra floated beside him while her teeth were shown as she must've been grunting, bracing for impact before a shock of her own.

"So, we're all alone in space, no power, no way to call for help, nothing within several thousand light years..."

Before Hunk continued, Ayame spoke up, to Keith, hoping that there was a solution to their predicament.

"What do we do?"

"Pidge, is there any way to get the Lions back up and running?"

As Pidge was calculating how to do so on her gauntlet, she replied to Keith whilst floating.

"Maybe, but I don't know how long it'll take. And I don't know if you've noticed, but we're all drifting in opposite directions after that blast."

Immediately, Hunk saw the problem with what's going on right now as he pointed it out.

"If we don't get the power back on, we might lose each other."

Given their situation, power was the least of their worries, and Keith knew it very well as he spoke of an alternative, making Jenny confused before Allura thought of a way to achieve that alternative.

"Okay, the power's gonna have to wait. Our top priority is tethering the Lions together."

"And how do we do that?"

"I think I have an idea on how we can do it."

Hearing Allura say this, Lance had a feeling that it was because of her alchemy.

"How? Some magical powers that you learned on Oriande?"

"No, I have some leftover zip line in my hull."

"Oh."

As Hunk heard this, however, he was easily frightened as he spoke up before Keith.

"We're getting out of our lions to do this? We don't even know what that energy pulse was."

"It's the only way to stay together. Allura, grab that zip line. Let's get moving."

As everyone got out of the lions, Keith looked to the others as he spoke up to them.

"Everyone stay sharp and hang on."

While Hunk got out, he was easily becoming nauseous all over again.

"So many lions, all spinning."

As he was prepared to gag, Jenny spoke up as she flew over the White Lion with Ayame.

"Come on, Hunk. We've been through worse than this. Besides, that could be subject to change if you upchuck in your helmet."

"Yeah, Yeah. Okay. Let me just... Nope. No good. Oh, don't berg in the space helmet, Hunk. Don't do it."

As Hunk tried to will himself to resist upchucking, Allura spoke up to the others with Hunk having doubts on that plan.

"You're going to need to push your lions to my location. Otherwise, there won't be enough cord to attack us together."

"Uh, by ourselves? I don't think that possible."

As Hunk tried to push the Lion with his jetpack going on in space, it yielded little result as he knew his doubts were correct.

"Yeah, no, we're definitely gonna need more help. Our jetpacks just don't have enough thrust. This is gonna take forever. We're gonna have to do this one by one."

To help him out, Keith replied to him as he spoke to Hunk.

"On our way. Everyone to the Yellow Lion!"

With that, the rest of the Paladins aided Hunk in pushing the Yellow Lion. As they did, however, Lance took notice of the same burst that occurred before as he spoke, concerning Hunk.

"Oh, no!"

"What?"

When they looked behind them, the Paladins noticed the burst headed closer to them as Keith spoke up.

"Everyone hold on!"

By the time they got a good grip on the Yellow Lion, the burst began to push against them like the wind as Pidge shouted while her fingers were slipping on it.

"I'm losing my..."

Before she could finish, Pidge was suddenly blown away while Hunk tried his best to regain his grip. When he did, however,he only slipped again before colliding into the others as they screamed before Pidge realized what was going on as they got further and further apart before Keith spoke up.

"I'm losing sight of the lions!"

"Stay together!"

With that, he used his jetpack to go after Ayame before catching her just as she caught Jenny while Pidge caught Allura and Lance caught Hunk, the seven of them tethering together woth their arms before Keith spoke up.

"Fire your jetpacks. Let's get stabilized."

With their jetpacks, they were able to stop spinning before they formed a circle as Hunk, Lance, Pidge, Allura, Ayame, and Jenny spoke up before Hunk became afraid very quickly.

"Oh, thank you."

"Does anyone have eyes on the lions?"

"I can't see them."

"Neither can I."

"Same here."

"Not me, either. Anyone else?"

"At this point, I don't even know which direction they're in."

Trying his best to take charge of the situation, Keith spoke up to the others as they floated in limbo.

"Okay, let's run through our checklist. Does anyone have any supplies?"

Unfortunately, Lance, Pidge, Jenny, and Hunk gave out the answer he did not wish to hear.

"No."

"Mm-mm."

"All tapped out."

"No food. No water."

"Our suits will recycle enough moisture to keep us hydrated for a little while. We just need to hang tight. We have each other."

As the group heard this, Lance turned to Hunk and tried to cheer him up as he spoke.

"Don't worry, Hunk. Something else will be along to kill us in any minute now. Any minute. Any minute."

* * *

Unfortunately, nothing came to kill them, nor did anything come to save them. They were all alone in the galactic void, left to spends the rest of their lives in the metaphorical and literal abyss. At the time they began to realize that, Keith's suit began to beep as the marker in front of him before he spoke to the others.

"Everyone sound off."

"Lance here."

"Pidge here."

"Jenny here."

"Ayame here."

"Allura here."

When Hunk remained silent, Keith spoke up again, trying to be sure he's alive.

"Hunk?"

"I'm hiding."

As Hunk said this, Keith spoke to him, trying to make sure he doesn't lose his mind.

"I need you to sound off, Hunk. It's important to maintain discipline and mental acuity in these situations. These techniques helped my mom, Sandra, and I through the Quantum Abyss."

At that moment, Allura spoke up in agreement with Keith.

"Keith is right. Being lost in space has been known to drive one mad. Too much time contemplating infinity is not good for the mind."

This made Jenny come up with an idea on how to pass the time as she piped up.

"It is pretty boring here... maybe we could think of something else?"

Fortunately, Pidge had an idea as she spoke up, drowsy as she was.

"I like to keep busy calculating Pi out as far as I can. The record is four quadrillion, but that's using the Hadoop parallelization network. I'm just using my brain."

This earned a slight giggle from Hunk before he spoke just as Lance saw an unsettling sight in front of him, making Hunk's earlier theory that Lance would first descend into madness appear correct.

"Hadoop."

"Wait. Guys! Look! Lights!"

"Told you Lance would go crazy first."

Then, Pidge piped up, seeing the same lights Lance saw, making Jenny a bit worried.

"No, no, no, no! I see them! There really are lights!"

"Don't tell me that burst is back..."

As Jenny looked, however, she instead noticed several flying creatures and a tranquil light in the center, nowhere near chaotic as the earlier bursts before Allura had a theory about what it was, making Hunk excited.

"Perhaps it's a ship."

"Oh, yes! Yes! We're rescued!"

As the creatures drew near, the light began to change from white to light green to yellow as Pidge, Allura, Jenny, and Ayame became fascinated.

"Amazing."

"They're beautiful."

"Incredible is more like it."

"I can't believe they're all the way out here..."

As they flew around them, Hunk came up with a crazy idea as he spoke up, making Keith turn to him.

"We should follow them."

"What?"

"Yeah. They must be heading somewhere. Like a hive or something. Wherever that is, it must be better than floating around here just, like, starving to death."

Hearing his idea, it sounded crazy. But with logic added into it, it might not be so crazy, after all. And it was preferable to their current situation.

"Hunks right. Let's follow them. Everyone stay together."

Once they used their jetpacks, however, the creatures and the background suddenly disappeared and the black abyss returned as Lance spoke up in surprise.

"Where'd they go?"

Then, Allura, Jenny, and Pidge spoke up next concerning what just occurred.

"Were they even real?"

"And if they were... did we just blow them up?"

"I guess they could've been a hallucination. But that usually only happens when you're going mad."

As Jenny heard this, she grew extremely worried. If they're going mad, then they'd have had to be out here for a month. Or it could've been a year. Ot perhaps even 10,000 years... As much as Jenny wished to know the truth, time is impossible to know in the void...

* * *

Later, the time for roll call came again as Keith's marker beeped, his eyes and everyone else's becoming sagged.

"Everyone... Everyone sound off."

"Allura here."

"Lance here."

"Jenny... here."

"Ayame here."

"Pidge here."

Again, Hunk was silent like the last time before Keith spoke to him, determined to be sure he's okay before Allura tried to stand up for him.

"Hunk, sound off immediately!"

"Keith, you don't have to—"

As Hunk spoke up, he began to tell them his fantasy, making Jenny look over to him and listen to him, instantly taking interest while Keith focused on the ending and what it meant.

"It's okay, Allura. It's okay. I was just kind of, you know, lost in this fantasy that we'd get to Earth and, you know, the Garrison would throw us a parade and all that stuff, and then, you know, maybe I'd meet some hotshot pilot who wanted to check out the Yellow Lion, and then maybe the Yellow Lion would take a shine to her, obviously, and I'd be like, 'Whoa. Whoa. I can't stand in-between you two. The bond is strong here.'"

"That sounds nice. At least, nicer than what I'm picturing, anyway."

As Jenny said this, Lance inquired about what Hunk was talking about before Keith spoke up.

"Hunk, what are you talking about?"

"Fantasizing about quitting Voltron."

"No, no, no, no, no, not quitting. No. Just, you know, being the bigger man. Just stepping aside to pass the baton down to a younger generation."

As Allura and Jenny heard this, the former inquired about Hunk's age while the latter had her own thoughts.

"Am I quite wrong or is Hunk still very young by Earth standards?"

"No, I think time is different for me, like I'm on dog years or something."

"Well, either way, it's nice to think about."

This made Hunk curious about what Jenny was thinking about as he spoke to her.

"Thanks. What are you thinking about, by the way?"

"Well... I'm just wondering, and I know it's a bit late to think, but... I'm wondering how Alphus is doing in the Quintessence Field. She's all by herself in there. And all that Quintessence inside must be making her go mad so fast... I-I just can't help but think it was all my fault she's in there... I should've stopped her."

As tears started to come out of Jenny's face, Ayame looked over to her before she spoke, trying to cheer her up.

"There was nothing you could've done, Jenny. Alphus wanted to make sure you were safe. To stop you from suffering that fate."

"Yeah... well, a lot of good that did. All that effort to save me, and we're trapped here. Why did she have to—?"

Before Jenny could finish, they immediately encountered turbulence as they all began to scream in the now chaotic void as red light surrounded them while lightning bolts pulled on their legs, making Pidge panic as she shouted.

"What's happening?!"

As lightning pulled on them, Lance looked to the others as he spoke to them before Allura, Hunk, and Ayame spoke.

"What is this?!"

"I'm being pulled away!"

"Something is attacking us!"

"But what?!"

At that moment, the scenery changer from red to dark purple as a silhouette of a face of a certain tyrant that turned Belle into Kren appeared whilst laughing maniacally with his glowing purple eyes hovering above them as Jenny spoke while Keith bore an angry look of determination.

"Keith, what do we do?!"

In his attempt to save his friends, whatever mirage may be taunting them with his laughter, Keith let go of Ayame's hand before he tried slashing at the mirage, only to fail as his swings continually missed while Ayame held onto him tightly as the mirage began to vanish just as swiftly before Pidge flew up to his arm and held tightly onto it before Keith began to lose his temper and his patience with what's going on around them.

"My bayard won't work, we don't know where the Lions are, we're being attacked by things we can't even see!"

As Keith said his, Ayame became confused as she tried to calm him down while she spoke.

"Keith, what are you talking about? There's nothing out there. It's just us."

As Ayame said this, Keith began to realize that Pidge might be right about the hallucinations. Perhaps he truly was going mad. But still, there was no help to be found within several thousand light years, nor any planet to be found. Which means... that to go mad must be his destiny. And he's already beginning to accept that.

* * *

Later, when roll call came again, Keith didn't even bother trying to get it started as Lance spoke to him.

"Keith, shouldn't we sound off?"

"What's the point?"

Despite this, Lance and the others proceeded to do so as they spoke.

"Lance here."

"Jenny here."

"Ayame here."

"Pidge here."

"Allura here."

"I am Hunk."

As they floated in the void, what Jenny said about Alphus made her think about the people who are far away from them as she thought of the most important people in her life, making Keith chime in.

"I wonder how my dad and Matt are doing."

"Better than us, hopefully."

At that moment, Allura spoke up to the others while the Paladins all looked to her.

"My father had something he always said in dire situations."

"'Give up'?"

The moment those words left his mouth, Jenny, Allura, and Ayame quickly looked to him in surprise as the first two spoke.

"Huh?"

"Sorry?"

"It just doesn't seem like he was a real fighter when the chips are down."

As Keith said this, Allura was becoming angry as she furrowed her eyebrows into an angry stare before Hunk tried to convince him to not make the situation worse whole Allura made a comeback.

"Keith, come on."

"You... have a lot of nerve questioning someone's leadership, seeing how you left us!"

As Allura said this, Jenny took her turn to try to stop the argument as she spoke.

"Allura, just settle down."

At that moment, Keith made another comeback, quickly escalating the situation as he spoke.

"As I recall, you were the one who got us all cozied up to Lotor."

At that moment, Ayane tried to speak up to him, only for Lance to tear their efforts apart like paper.

"Keith, none of us knew back then what—"

"Keith, you ran away. Maybe you should have just stayed away."

Fortunately, Hunk acted as the earlier self-appointed 'voice of reason' by piping up and getting everyone's attention.

"Lance, Keith, everyone, stop! Look, guys, I understand what's happening here. You're all brave heroes who don't know how to react to being scared, and it's causing you to attack one another. That, or you're all going space mad. Hopefully, you're just scared. I-I'm scared all the time. I can talk you through it."

However, Keith just shot a glare towards Hunk as he spoke.

"Sorry, Hunk. I guess I just don't know how to be a coward."

Despite his hostility, Hunk knew Keith was right, sarcastic as he was.

"Right. That's what I'm saying."

Unfortunately, Lance saw this sarcasm as a threat and Lance tried to stand up for him.

"Why don't you just leave him alone, Keith? Just drift off by yourself, Mr. Lone Wolf."

"Fine."

As he was about to take off, Ayame tried to stop him as she spoke up, making him glance over to her.

"Keith, look at me! Hunk's right. We all need to stay together. Please... we all need you, Keith. _I _need you..."

As Keith looked at Ayame, he only scoffed at her as he spoke.

"Need me for what, Ayame? Someone to cry on, because you couldn't take on anything by yourself?! God, why are you so weak?!"

As Keith said this, he immediately caused Ayame to widen her eyes as tears pricked out of her eyes before she quivered her lips as she spoke softly.

"Keith..."

Seeing how hurt Ayame was, Jenny started to flip out on him as she shouted.

"Hey, shut up! You don't get to treat Ayame that way! Not after everything she went through! Not after what _you _put her through!"

As Jenny said this, Keith became surprised at her vicious anger as Hunk spoke before Jenny spoke again.

"Jenny, not you too."

"Do you have any idea how much she's cried over you ever since you left with the Blades?! After the hell of her life that she went through, Ayame deserves to be happy! And if you don't even care about that, then you should just get lost!"

Frozen stiff as he was by Jenny's outburst, Keith was already becoming too eager to do so as he spoke.

"Fine, I'll go!"

As Keith began to take off, Hunk went after him to stop him as Ayame and Jenny looked on in surprise.

"No, don't!"

With that, Hunk grabbed Keith's leg as he spoke.

"We have to stay together!"

In response to this, Keith only glared at him with his scowl while he spoke.

"Why, Hunk? Are we really even friends? Is there anything holding us together besides some messed up series of coincidences?"

As Keith said this, the Paladins began to ponder about that themselves as Keith spoke onwards.

"I mean, what are we? Some chosen saviors? Do you really believe that?! WHAT ARE WE EVEN DOING OUT HERE?!"

As an answer to that question, Hunk spoke to Keith with a determination of his own.

"We're doing what we have to."

As Keith began to take off, Hunk held tightly on him before the worried Ayame spoke to him.

"Let me go!"

"No!"

At that moment, Pidge looked out to the lights and saw a bright light far ahead as she piped up.

"Uh, guys?"

Immediately, they stopped their argument before Lance and Allura spoke.

"Is it one of those creatures?"

"No. It appears to be a single source. It looks like a planet."

"No way."

As they got a closer look at the light, Jenny, Ayame, and Keith widened their eyes at the sight.

"Is that...?"

"Could it be?"

"It's... Earth."

As they looked all the way in front of them, Pidge had a theory about how they got there as she and Lance spoke.

"That wave just have knocked us all the way across the universe!"

"We're home! We're gonna make it, guys!"

As the Paladins all took off for Earth, Hunk began to notice something suspicious as he spoke.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, guys, where's the sun? Where's the other planets? Or the moon?"

As they drew closer, Hunk began to realize what the Earth in front of them actually was: a mirage.

"Stop! This is too good to be true! Stop. Everybody, stop!"

As he stopped in front of the Paladins, Pidge and Lance spoke to him.

"Hunk, what are you doing?"

"Stop it, Hunk!"

"No, no, something is wrong!"

As the Paladins heard this, they were becoming too desperate to listen as Pidge spoke.

"Hunk, you're hallucinating! You're going space mad! Just let us take you home!"

With that, the group began to push Hunk towards "Earth" before he pushed back as he used his own jet pack before he spoke.

"No! Listen to yourselves! You're letting all of this get the better of you. There's no way that can be Earth."

However, Allura was still convinced that it was truly Earth in front of her as she spoke.

"Just trust us, Hunk. You'll thank us when we get there."

However, Hunk knew better than the others did as he pushed back.

"Let me go!"

With that, he boosted with his jetpack again, pushing right through them before summoning his bayard and pointed it at Earth as he found himself being swarmed by the space crazy Paladins as he shouted, firing his bayard at the Earth, causing the blast to go near the Paladins as they screamed before the Earth ripples and turned into a giant eyeball with its carrier being a skull with a body of a manta ray that was glowing green on the underbelly and on the wings atop its back as Lance, Jenny, Pidge, and Ayame spoke.

"What the quiznak is that thing?"

"And where's Earth?!"

"Hunk was right."

"He saved us."

As the beast drew closer, Hunk spoke up to them.

"Here it comes!"

With that, it opened its large mouth, revealing several rows of teeth like a shark as they screamed and tried to avoid it. But in the process, they ended up drifting apart before using their jetpacks to stabilize themselves before Ayame spoke up.

"Guys, that thing is hunting us. And it's gonna get us all unless we do something."

However, Jenny was confused on how to do something against it as she piped up.

"But how? Our bayards don't work."

This made Ayame surprised as she noticed Hunk's bayard out and ready before she spoke.

"Except Hunk's... Hunk! How did you manifest yours?"

"I don't know. I just knew that I needed to."

As the beast circled back, Lance spoke up an obvious inquiry as Hunk glared at it like a fiend possessed.

"What are we gonna do? We don't stand a chance!"

Immediately, Hunk sped up towards the beast before he replied.

"Get out of here. I'll buy you some time. Go!"

As he sped up to it, his machine gun blazing, Hunk earned the Paladins' concern as Lance, Pidge, Jenny, Ayame, and Allura shouted.

"Hunk!"

"You can't!"

"It's too dangerous!"

"No!"

Despite their warnings, Hunk was still determined to drive it away long enough to save his friends as he shouted while the creature roared. As he maintained his shooting and shouting, however, he was suddenly stopped as he grunted before realizing that the group stopped him before he spoke to Pidge.

"What are you doing?"

"Fire jetpacks!"

On that signal, the Paladins pulled Hunk back away from the beast before it missed them as they stabilized themselves, earning his concern as he spoke.

"What are you guys doing? I told you to escape!"

This made Lance, Pidge, Jenny, Allura, Ayame, and Keith reply to him as they hovered away from the beast.

"Why would we ever do that without you?"

"Yeah. You can't expect us to just leave you."

"We're a team."

"We have to stick together, like you said."

"If someone picks a fight with one of us, they deal with all of us."

"I'm sorry I said those hurtful things earlier. I was wrong. This series of messed up coincidences did happen for a reason. They brought us together as Paladins. But more importantly... they brought us together as friends."

As Keith said this, the Paladins felt more connected with their lions than ever as they regained their bayards, summoning them as weapons before they charged at the beast before Keith spoke.

"Alright, team. We have to attack his thing with our bayards from every side possible. That way it can't target us all at once."

"Yeah!"

With that, Hunk shot at the beast at the front and on top of its back, swiftly avoiding its tail as Pidge shot hers at the side, embedding it before she ended up going with it as it went down while Lance shot at it before noticing Pidge being dragged and then swung towards him as she collided with him before the beast glared at them as Allura and Jenny spoke up.

"It's toying with us."

"As if being sitting ducks wasn't enough."

As it went near them, Lance got out his bayard again before shooting at it as he shouted, making the beast turn to him as it growled, making them closer to being its dinner, only for the Red Lion to shoot at it, knocking it away as the Yellow Lion arrived next to push it back. Then, the Blue Lion cane to blast at its side just as the Black Lion stood in front of the Paladins while the White Lion dashed towards it and smacked its face with a paw, making it cower back as it shrieked while escaping into the void as the lions got together while Jenny and Lance shouted.

"Woo-hoo!"

"Yeah, you better run!"

As Ayame and Pidge looked behind them, they took notice of something far worse as the former spoke.

"I think that thing was actually running from that."

As the burst came towards them again, Hunk and Allura spoke up about it.

"Again?!"

"We know we can't outrun it."

Keith only gave a determined glance at it as he spoke while he and the others got in their lions.

"We're not running this time. Form Voltron!"

With that, Voltron began merging as the five lions cane together. But this time, the White Lion cane to merge with them as it went below the Black Lion and connected itself with the Legs of Voltron, making up the heart of Voltron as blue light shone from its chest, which had now become white as it stood to confront the storm with Jenny and Ayame being surprised at where they ended up as the former spoke up first.

"What the...? How did we end up in Voltron?!"

"Our bonds... it must've strengthened enough to let us be a part of it."

"Great. But is that gonna be enough?"

To put it to the test, Voltron went inside the storm, continuously being pushed back by it in multicolored lights before they noticed pads rising up beside their seats, taking the cue that they must insert their bayards into it before they did so, quickly changing the boosters in top of Voltron as they were granted more engines and boosters, allowing it to proceed through the storm, swiftly evading the chaos as the Paladins grunted. And they kept the pace, holding onto their bayards with everything they had as they finally pierced through the storm burst and found themselves back out in space. As Keith took a breather from the effort, he realized what happened to his companions as he looked behind him to see Belle groaning and Kosmo looking at him confusedly while Shiro woke up in the Green Lion with Romelle waking up in the Red Lion as she spoke.

"What happened? Did something come to try to kill us?"

"You know it."

In the Blue Lion, the mice, Cilia, Sapphire, Babak, and Coran were broken out of their frozen spell as Coran yawned before she spoke.

"It looks like that nebula carried us thousands of light years away."

This made Cilia curious as she spoke up.

"So, where are we?"

As Pidge looked at the constellations, she became utterly surprised with joy as she spoke.

"That looks like... I recognize these constellations! This is Earth's solar system! It's the Milky Way!"

As the group all gazed at this, Hunk, Lance, Jenny, Ayame, Shiro, and Keith all looked out towards it as the group spoke up.

"Home."

"We made it."

"I can't believe it."

"We're really here..."

"We're finally here."

"Well, what are we waiting for."

With that, Keith thrusted the lever to bring Voltron one step closer to home...


End file.
